On 6 July 2021, a co-ordination meeting with the state authorities of Tajikistan was organised online in order to discuss the national priorities in the areas of business integrity, fight against corruption and anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism and identifying ways for further co-operation.

The event gathered representatives of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Tajikistan, the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption and the Financial Monitoring Department under the National Bank of Tajikistan, providing a platform for presenting and discussing a workplan of the action “Promoting Transparency and Action against Economic Crime” which is part of the Central Asia Rule of Law Programme 2020-2023.

The action's team provided an overview of the wide range of areas in which the present institutions could benefit from the Council of Europe technical assistance both at the national and regional levels such as assistance and support in enhancing protection of the rights of entrepreneurs and whistleblowers, anti-corruption compliance in the private sector, as well as providing assistance with the aim of enhancing the anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism and asset recovery systems. The representatives of beneficiary institutions informed the team about the latest national developments and defined specific areas of support within the framework of the action. After the final definition of the co-operation areas, both sides will agree on a yearly work plan which will guide the implementation of the activities under the action.

This meeting was organised in the framework of the action “Promoting Transparency and Action against Economic Crime” within the Central Asia Rule of Law Programme 2020-2023, which is a joint initiative co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe. The action is aimed at strengthening capacities to fight and prevent economic crime in five Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.