The second Steering Committee meeting of the Countering Money Laundering in Albania (CMLA) project brought together representatives of the Council of Europe, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), and key Albanian partner institutions.

The meeting reviewed progress made over the past six months and discussed priorities for the next phase of implementation. Participants highlighted the project’s contribution to strengthening Albania’s anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) framework, supporting preparations for the sixth-round MONEYVAL mutual evaluation, and advancing alignment with European and international standards.

Key achievements included support for beneficial ownership transparency, a review of legislation to support alignment with the EU AML/CFT framework, and capacity-building for prosecutors, investigators and other relevant institutions on financial investigations, asset recovery and trade-based money laundering. Practical assistance was also provided to Customs and Border Police to strengthen risk-based controls of cross-border movements of cash and valuables.

Looking ahead, priorities include further work on beneficial ownership, practical guidance on ML/TF risk-management for auditors, accountants and real estate agents, emerging financial crime risks, strengthening the strategic analysis capacities of the Financial Intelligence Agency, and enhancing risk-based supervision and inter-agency cooperation.

Albanian partners actively contributed to the discussions and reaffirmed their commitment to continued cooperation. The Steering Committee will continue to provide strategic guidance to ensure that project support remains targeted, practical and responsive to the needs of Albanian institutions.

The “Countering Money Laundering in Albania” project is co-funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe.