The Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force published details of a high-level visit to Damascus focused on supporting the Syrian Arab Republic’s preparations for the Mutual Evaluation process and strengthening the effectiveness of its national framework for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing. The delegation, led by MENAFATF President Hamid Saif Al Zaabi, met senior Syrian officials including the governor of the Central Bank of Syria, several ministers, the Financial Intelligence Unit, judicial authorities, law enforcement agencies, and regulatory and supervisory authorities. Syrian authorities used the meeting to highlight efforts to improve the effectiveness of the national framework, coordination among competent authorities, and recent legislative, regulatory and institutional reforms. These included the recently announced National Strategy for Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, which Syria presented as a risk-based framework to strengthen integration across authorities. MENAFATF emphasized the importance of high-level political commitment for the evaluation process and pointed to Syria’s cooperation and readiness across the stages of the evaluation. MENAFATF said it will continue working with Syria through technical assistance, exchange of expertise and capacity-building support to strengthen readiness for the Mutual Evaluation process and help address strategic deficiencies in line with the Financial Action Task Force methodology. Syrian officials said joint work would continue in the next phase to implement Mutual Evaluation requirements and further develop the national framework.

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