Japan to help Iran resolve differences with FATF: official

TEHRAN – Japan has vowed to carry out efforts to help Iran advance its case in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), according to an Iranian deputy finance minister.

Hadi Khani made the remarks on Sunday after returning from a meeting of the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG) in Indore, India.

Khani said that on the sidelines of the meeting he had met with Japan’s Deputy Minister of Finance for International Affairs and the head of the country’s delegation to the FATF Mitsutoshi Kajikawa.

“The official said that the Japanese government plans to contribute to the process of normalizing relations between Iran and the FATF and be the voice of Iran in the Group of Seven as the founders of the FATF,” he told the ILNA news agency.

Khani said Kajikawa had also promised to communicate to the FATF the efforts made by Iran to fight money laundering and terrorism financing in recent years.

Iran’s current administrative government announced upon taking office in mid-summer that it would seek to sort out differences with the FATF as part of efforts to open up to the world and fix the country’s economic problems.

Iranian officials have indicated that the country should not have any worries about adopting the FATF rules in its entirety as the country has strict controls on money laundering and financing of terrorism.

That comes as some in the country still believe that certain governments, especially the United States which maintains a harsh regime of sanctions on Iran, would benefit from Iran’s decision to completely accept all FATF conventions and rules.

EF/PressTv