12 October 2001

Treasury's Taylor on Blocking Terrorist Assets

An extraordinary plenary meeting of the Financial Action Task Force will address specific ways to dry up the financing of terrorism, according to Under Secretary of Treasury for International Affairs John B. Taylor.

Taylor, said the group that include 29 nations joined to stop money laundering will meet in Washington October 29 and 30.

The Treasury official, in a statement issued October 12, reviewed actions taken to date to block terrorist assets, noting that 66 countries have implemented orders to block these assets, over $20 million has been frozen globally since September 11, and 110 countries have joined the United States in a multilateral effort to stop the financial flows to terrorists and their organizations.

Following is the text of Taylor's statement as prepared for delivery:

I am pleased to announce today that all members of the G7 are taking simultaneous action to block assets of terrorist individuals and groups identified by the United States. This is just one example of the unprecedented level of international cooperation we have received to combat the financing of terrorism. Today we can say that:

• 110 countries have committed to join the effort to combat the financing of terrorism.

• 66 countries now have blocking orders on terrorist assets in force, and

• over $20 million has been frozen globally since September 11.

In order to add to these numbers, the Administration is also prepared to offer technical assistance to cooperating nations eager to engage in the full range of efforts to combat the financing of terrorism. This is a quiet but significant contribution to our overall effort.

The Administration is also moving forward on a number of other fronts to dry up terrorist financing internationally. Last weekend, Secretary O'Neill hosted an exceptional meeting of the G7 Finance Ministers in Washington, after which the seven nations announced a joint action plan on terrorist financing.

All G7 nations pledged to create an enhanced mechanism for monitoring terrorist assets, similar to our Foreign Terrorist Asset Tracking Center in the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

At the request of the G7, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will hold an extraordinary plenary meeting in Washington on October 29th and 30th. The G7 has called on FATF to focus on specific measures to combat the financing of terrorism.

Also as part of the action plan, all G7 countries pledged to establish functional Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs), such as the United States' Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN), and to join the Egmont Group. The Egmont Group promotes cooperation between national Financial Intelligence Units, and expedites information-sharing requests. The Group will meet in Washington later this month to further their coordination efforts.

The continued cooperation of the international community is critical to the long-term success of the fight against the financing of terrorism.