Qatar Central Bank (QCB) Assistant Governor for Supervision, Hamad Ahmad Al Mulla
Doha: The National Anti Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism Committee (NAMLC), in cooperation with the British Embassy, hosted a workshop on anti terrorism financing, Tuesday.
The workshop which will continue until October 22 aims at strengthening national capabilities and exchanging expertise in the field of combating terrorist financing.
Delivering the opening speech during the event, Qatar Central Bank (QCB) Assistant Governor for Supervision, Hamad Ahmad Al Mulla highlighted the cooperation between Qatar and the United Kingdom to exchange best practices and discuss the latest developments in combating the financing of terrorism.
Al Mulla said, “This cooperation supports joint efforts to protect the global financial system and enhance coordination in addressing ongoing threats.”
“The workshop represents an important opportunity to strengthen partnerships between national authorities and the private sector, and to develop mechanisms for monitoring and analysing threats related to terrorist financing. Exchanging expertise with the British side contributes to raising the efficiency of national authorities and enabling them to confront current challenges more effectively”.
The workshop serves as a valuable opportunity for national entities to enhance their acquisition of best practices used in the UK. Also to establish direct communication channels with their counterparts and contributes to the development of national policies and procedures, improving the efficiency of work teams, and enhancing coordination among various concerned bodies, he added.
For his part, Director of the Counter-Terrorism Department in the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Alastair Totty highlighted the cooperation with the Qatari side in combating terrorism financing, pointing to the importance of exchanging expertise between both parties.
Totty said, the UK and Qatar will continue to work together and I am very grateful to government of Qatar for hosting us here today.
He noted that his country is firmly committed to disrupting terrorism financing, with its current focus within the UK being on detecting and preventing self-financing and the misuse of legitimate sectors, whereas its focus internationally is on targeting the financial infrastructure that supports major terrorist organisations.
Over the past decade, the nature of terrorist financing has evolved significantly. “We have seen a shift away from large, centrally coordinated fundraising towards smaller, more agile networks and self-funded individuals. At the same time, the use of new technologies continues to challenge traditional detection and disruption tools like Bitcoin. “This evolution means our response also needs to adapt.” Totty said.
Speaking about the British government’s priorities he said, “The UK remains firmly committed to disrupting terrorist financing both at home and overseas. Domestically, our current focus is on detecting and preventing self-financing and the misuse of legitimate sectors. Internationally, we focus on targeting the financial infrastructure that sustains key terrorist organisations.”
The UK is working on updating its international counter-terrorism strategy to ensure its integration with the broader counter-terrorism strategy, he added.
The workshop featured the participation of a number of national and international officials and experts. During the sessions, expertise was exchanged and proposals were presented to enhance oversight mechanisms and cooperation between various entities.
The event witnessed several important topics, including the nature of threats and general trends in terrorism financing, public-private partnership models, joint prosecutions and investigations, the role of law enforcement authorities and regulatory bodies in combating terrorism financing.
It also discussed the UK's global strategy and approach to international sanctions and use of crypto assets and crowdfunding as potential tools for illicit financing.
