At the invitation of the National Bank of Belarus (NBB), a technical assistance mission from the IMF's Legal Department, consisting of Mr. Ross Delston, Consulting Counsel, visited Minsk during August 11-15, 2003. The mission met with senior officials of the NBB to discuss legislative issues relating to strengthening the anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) framework. To facilitate this discussion, the NBB also organized a working group consisting of representatives of the Belarusian agencies and ministries involved in AML/CFT which met with the mission on daily basis. This mission is a part of a recent initiative through which the IMF has been providing technical assistance on strengthening the AML/CFT legal framework to a number of countries around the world (see http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/aml.htm for more information).

The mission's preliminary findings were that the AML/CFT framework of Belarus has a number of strengths. For example, the elements of the financial, business and professional sectors that are singled out by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations for supervision and regulation are already subject to licensing in Belarus. Moreover, two agencies are already involved in collecting information on suspicious financial activities. Nevertheless, the mission noted the AML/CFT framework needs to be strengthened further in the following areas: (i) the AML Law should be redrafted in order to meet the latest (June 2003) FATF recommendations, (ii) a CFT Law is needed, (iii) a creation and operation of a financial intelligence unit that would collect, analyze and disseminate all relevant information is a priority, and (iv) better coordination among the various agencies is needed to ensure the framework functions effectively. The mission was encouraged that the authorities have already embarked on the formation of the financial intelligence unit, and that the enactment of CFT legislation has high priority.

With the assistance of the NBB, the mission also held a seminar on "Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism: The New International Standards and Assessments by the International Monetary Fund." The seminar was attended by government officials, diplomats, and private sector representatives from domestic and foreign financial institutions. It included coverage of the newly revised FATF 40 Recommendations, the Special Eight Recommendations on Terrorist Financing, and the AML/CFT methodology.