On 6 July 2021, the Economic Crime and Cooperation Division of the Council of Europe, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan, organised a coordination meeting aimed at discussing the authorities’ priorities in the areas of business integrity, fight against corruption and anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) and identifying ways for effective further cooperation.

The event gathered representatives of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Tajikistan, the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption and the Financial Monitoring Department under the National Bank of Tajikistan (the FIU), providing a platform for presenting and discussing the Workplan of the project on “Promoting Transparency and Action against Economic Crime”. The project team provided an overview of the wide range of areas in which the present institutions could benefit from the Council of Europe technical assistance both at the national and regional levels – such as assistance and support in enhancing protection of the rights of entrepreneurs and whistleblowers, anti-corruption compliance in the private sector, as well as providing assistance with the aim of enhancing the AML/CFT and asset recovery systems. On the other hand, the representatives of beneficiary institutions used this opportunity to inform the project team about the latest national developments and to discuss specific areas of support within the framework of the project.

All present beneficiary institutions were further encouraged to identify additional priority areas for which they would need the Council of Europe technical assistance and expertise, with the aim of agreeing on a yearly Workplan to guide the implementation of project activities.

This activity was organised in the framework of the project “Promoting Transparency and Action against Economic Crime”, part of the Central Asia Rule of Law Programme 2020-2023, joint initiative co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe. The project is aimed at strengthening capacities to fight and prevent economic crime in five Central Asian countries, including Tajikistan.