On June 14, Civil Society Institute (SCI), in partnership with European Center for Non-for-Profit Law (ECNL) and Partners Georgia held a discussion meeting, which aimed at increasing the engagement of civil society and consolidation of CSOs’ visions around Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT).

Latest report of Council of Europe’s Anti-Money Laundering Committee (MONEYVAL) was discussed at the meeting as well as Georgian National Risk Assessment Report and its action plan, which is currently being work on by the Georgian government. Georgia received the lowest ranking in the report in regards to its preventive measures against potential risk of noncommercial sector being wrongfully used. 

At the meeting it was underlined that CSOs are not involved in the process of assessing preventive measures, which can lead to the introduction of such measures and regulations that might negatively affect the CSO environment in Georgia. 

International experts and local CSO representatives participated in the meeting during which potential measures to prevent risks according to FATF recommendations, as well as mechanisms to increase active participation of CSOs and development of self-regulation measures were discussed. Second topic of the meeting focused on the cooperation between NPOs and banks, including National Bank of Georgia’s AML/CFT policy in regards to NPOs.