On 31 August 2022, the Economic Crime and Cooperation Division of the Council of Europe organised a webinar on the Council of Europe Methodology for Sectoral Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Risk Assessment of Virtual Assets (VAs) and Virtual Assets Service Providers (VASPs) for the Turkmen competent authorities.
The webinar brought together eleven representatives of the Central Bank, Ministry of Finance and Economy of Turkmenistan, Financial Monitoring Service (FIU) at the Ministry of Finance and Economy, Ministry of Internal Affairs, General Prosecutor’s Office, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan. The event aimed to introduce and enhance knowledge about one of the specific methodological instruments developed by the Council of Europe to assist beneficiaries in conducting risk assessments to counter money laundering and terrorism financing.
The participants from Turkmenistan expressed their interest in learning more about hands-on experience in the application of the Methodology by other countries, and also inquired about possibility to further continue in-depth cooperation with the Council of Europe in the specific area of preventing and combating money laundering/terrorist financing (ML/TF) related to VAs and VASPs. The Council of Europe project team expressed willingness to further support the authorities by bringing specific expertise and organising tailor-made activities according to authorities’ practical needs.
The representative of the European Union Delegation to Turkmenistan emphasized that implementation of the knowledge received and exchanged under this process would further assist in promoting business integrity, fighting corruption and preventing the abuse of digital and virtual assets for ML/TF.
The webinar was conducted within the framework of the Action “Promoting Transparency and Action against Economic Crime” which focuses on strengthening authorities’ capacities in the region to fight and prevent economic crime and corruption, based on regional priorities, as well as priority areas of the countries concerned. The Action is implemented as part of the “Central Asia Rule of Law Programme 2020–2023” which is a joint initiative co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe.