New Delhi: A two-day international ministerial conference on how to deal with terror financing, including legitimate and illegitimate funding routes, will begin here on Friday and it will be attended by representatives of 75 countries and international bodies, an official said.
The 3rd ‘No Money for Terror Ministerial Conference on Counter Terrorism Financing’ is being hosted by the Ministry of Home Affairs and is likely to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and to be attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah among others.
It will discuss diverse subjects like global trends in terrorism and terrorist financing, use of formal and informal channels of funds for terrorism, including use of ‘Hawala’ or ‘Hundi’ networks, emerging technologies and terrorist financing and international cooperation to address challenges in combating terrorist financing.
The participating nations will also deliberate on how to effectively enforce the standards mandated by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and UN listings on terror group and terrorists, a home ministry official said.
The home ministry last week had said that the hosting of this conference shows the importance being given by the Modi government to the issue of international terrorism as well as its zero tolerance policy against this menace and having discussions on this issue in the international community.
Shah is expected to convey India’s determination in its fight against terrorism as well as its support systems for achieving success against it.
The conference aims to progress the discussions on combating terrorist financing held by the international community in the previous two conferences in Paris (2018) and Melbourne (2019), another home ministry official said.
It also intends to include discussions on technical, legal, regulatory and cooperation aspects of all facets of terrorism financing.
It attempts to also set the pace for other high level official and political deliberations, focused on countering terrorist financing.
Globally, countries have been affected by terrorism and militancy for several years. The pattern of violence differs in most theatres, but is largely engendered by a tumultuous geo-political environment, coupled with prolonged armed sectarian conflicts, the official said, adding such conflicts often lead to poor governance, political instability, economic deprivation and large ungoverned spaces.
The involvement of a compliant state often exacerbates terrorism, especially its financing.
“India has suffered several forms of terrorism, and its financing over more than three decades, hence it understands the pain and trauma of similarly impacted nations,” the official said.
In order to display solidarity with peace-loving nations and to help create a bridge for sustained cooperation on countering terrorist financing, India was host to two global events in October – the annual General Assembly of the Interpol in Delhi and a special session of the UN Counter Terrorism Committee in Mumbai and Delhi.
The forthcoming NMFT conference will further India’s efforts to build understanding and cooperation amongst nations, the official said.
Discussions at the 3rd ‘No Money For Terror’ conference will be focussed on global trends in terrorism and terrorist financing, use of formal and informal channels of funds for terrorism, emerging technologies and terrorist financing and requisite international co-operation to address related challenges, he said.
According to a document paper of the conference, the discussion on global trends in terrorism and terrorist financing will cover on trends in terror financing in South Asia, evolving global terrorist threats, potential of global terrorist organisations to expand and recent trends in combating terrorist financing and money laundering risks.
The session on use of formal and informal channels of funds for terrorism will discuss links between legitimate economic activities and terror financing, misuse of non-profit organisation (NPOs) and Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBP) in terror financing, terror financing through Money Transfer Service Scheme (MTSS), ‘Hawala’ or ‘Hundi’ networks and other informal means, nexus between terrorists and transnational organised crime, especially drug trafficking in financing of terrorism, the paper noted.
