The European Union (EU) has removed Pakistan from its ‘list of high-risk third countries’, which means Pakistani businesses and individuals would no longer be subjected to enhanced diligence by European authorities.
The list includes countries that have strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and terror financing (AML/CFT) regimes that pose significant threats to the financial system of the EU.
“Following the measures implemented to address the action plans agreed with the FATF, Nicaragua, Pakistan and Zimbabwe have remedied the strategic deficiencies in their respective AML/CFT regimes and no longer pose a significant AML/CFT threat to the international financial system,” the EU said in a statement.
Pakistan welcomes decision
Pakistan’s government, the Commerce Ministry and the Foreign Office hailed the decision by the European Union to remove Pakistan from the list of high-risk countries thus recognizing Pakistan’s performance in overcoming technical issues in AML/CFT.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif hailed the development, saying it would facilitate the country’s businesses, individuals and entities.
“The removal from the list will ease financial transactions between entities from Pakistan and the European Union. Pakistan looks forward to building on this development for mutually beneficial economic cooperation with the European Union and sharing its experience in the upgradation of AML/CFT regimes with partner countries” the Foreign Office said.
Commerce Minister Syed Naveed Qamar said: “Pakistani businesses and individuals would no longer be subjected to enhanced customer due diligence by European legal and economic operators”.
Pakistan’s Commerce Ministry said “The new development would add to the comfort level of the European economic operators and is likely to ease the cost and time of legal and financial transactions by Pakistani entities and individuals in the EU.”
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also commended the development and called it good news for Pakistani businesses.
The EU decision follows UK’s decision to remove Pakistan from a similar list in November 2022. The EU’s action follows Pakistan being removed from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list that warrants increased surveillance for terrorism financing.