Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS Convenes Thirteenth Finance Working Group Meeting
On July 29, 2020, the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS hosted the thirteenth meeting of the Counter ISIS Finance Group (CIFG). This meeting was convened via conference call for participants to discuss ongoing global efforts to counter ISIS financing. The CIFG was established in January 2015 as a working group of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS and is co-chaired by Italy, Saudi Arabia, and the United States.
Below is a joint statement that can be attributed to the co-leads of the CIFG:
“In the wake of the Global Coalition’s territorial defeat of ISIS, the terrorist group remains determined to regroup and inflict violence against Coalition partners and local populations wherever its cells and networks exist around the world. Accordingly, CIFG members have continued their critical efforts to drain ISIS’s resources, disrupt its financial flows, and diminish its resilience.”
“During the meeting, CIFG members shared information about ISIS’s financial activities, recent actions taken by authorities in their respective jurisdictions to disrupt ISIS financial operations, and improvements in their anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regimes. CIFG members also discussed the importance of continued, coordinated multilateral sanctions, such as the Riyadh-based Terrorist Financing Targeting Center’s (TFTC) joint designation of six ISIS targets in July 2020.”
“ISIS’s territorial defeat in Iraq and Syria has significantly degraded its finances, however it is determined to adapt its fundraising and financial facilitation methods – throughout its global network – to reverse this trend. Despite current challenges, including the COVID-19 global pandemic, the CIFG remains focused on applying unrelenting pressure on ISIS’s financial networks, including by facilitating technical assistance to empower its members and partners. The co-leads look forward to discussing further actions at the next meeting tentatively scheduled in the fall. The CIFG’s thirteenth meeting is a demonstration of our resolve and underscores the working group’s vital role in securing the enduring defeat of ISIS.”
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