After exiting the grey list of Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Pakistan has achieved another major milestone as European Union (EU) has removed Pakistan from the list of High Risk Third Countries.
The European Commission has removed Pakistan from the List of High Risk Third Countries, which have strategic deficiencies in their Anti Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/ CFT) regime.
The exports from Pakistan will not be any more liable to additional conditions set by legal and economic operators.
Federal Minister for Trade Syed Naveed Qamar said that the exemption is a breeze of ease for Pakistani exporters. The minister confirmed that EU has exempted Pakistan from high-risk third counties list.
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EU has removed Pakistan from the List of High Risk Third Countries. Pakistani businesses and individuals would no longer be subjected to ‘Enhanced Customer Due Diligence’ by European legal and economic operators.— Syed Naveed Qamar (@naveedqamarmna) March 28, 2023
Pakistan was included in this list back in 2018, the restriction has been wreaking havoc on our industry, the minister added.
Naveed Qamar said that all credit goes to Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari for his tireless efforts to get Pakistan off this list.
Naveed Qamar also confirmed the development on Wednesday stating “Pakistani businesses and individuals would no longer be subjected to ‘Enhanced Customer Due Diligence’ by European legal and economic operators.”
The minister further said that the EU had included Pakistan in the list of high-risk countries back in 2018. “This ban had put an unnecessary burden on our economy.”
It is worth mentioning here that UK removed Pakistan from the list of High Risk Third Countries back in November 2022.