The Project Advisory Board (PAB) of the joint Council of Europe and European Union’s Technical Support Instrument (TSI) Project on “Strengthening of the Estonian Anti-Money Laundering Framework” held its annual meeting online on the 22nd of February 2023. 

The meeting provided an opportunity to update all PAB members, representing the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the Estonian Ministry of Finance, the Council of Europe and the European Commission (DG REFORM), on the current status of implementation of the project and its activity plans for the following period. It served to take stock of the Project’s progress towards its objectives, and to discuss its results as well as challenges encountered, risk mitigation needs and next steps. This meant to ensure continued connection of the Project’s objectives and specific activities with national priorities, through a regular adaptation and alignment of the technical assistance with the needs of its beneficiaries.

After introductions and a presentation of the state of implementation of the Project by the Council of Europe’s Project team, participants around the table provided their feedback and advice on the Project’s achieved and expected results, challenges and plans for upcoming activities, within the two main expected outcomes of the project, namely: supporting the enhancement of the legal framework for the functioning of the FIU; and strengthening the FIU’s capacities in the area of strategic analysis of money laundering and terrorism financing.  

The Estonian FIU outlined specific requests for targeted and specialised assistance in the area of strategic analysis, taking into account the current highest national priorities and the latest state of development of its strategic analysis function. These included further advice on certain aspects of the operational processes and creation of products of strategic analysis, as well as technical guidance on related IT tools. The possibility to benefit from exchange of experiences with other European countries’ FIUs possessing well-developed technical systems for data analysis, through the facilitation of the TSI Project, was also particularly valued by the beneficiaries.

All parties expressed their appreciation of this joint effort and renewed their mutual commitment to pursue effective cooperation towards achieving their common objectives in the framework of the Project.