Robust Anti-Laundering Fight Critical For Regional Stability – Vice President Jane Opoku-Agyemang
The Vice President, Jane Opoku-Agyemang, has issued a compelling call to West African leaders, urging them to fortify the regional architecture dedicated to combating Money Laundering (ML), Financing of Terrorism (TF), and Weapons Proliferation. Speaking at the 2nd Extraordinary Meeting of the Intergovernmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) in Accra, the Vice President underscored the indispensable link between robust financial crime prevention and the sub-region’s security and sustainable development.
GIABA, established by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as a FATF-style regional body (FSRB), plays a critical role in assisting member states to implement international standards against financial crimes. Its efforts are crucial in a region where illicit financial flows are estimated to cost African economies billions of dollars annually, often fuelling corruption, organised crime, and insurgency.
The Vice President commended GIABA members for their dedication to ensuring that West African states adopt adequate measures in line with acceptable international practices and standards.Your work, often behind the scenes, is of great importance to regional security and sustainable development.
This is an opportunity for reflection and foresight, and to reimagine how our regional institutions respond to emerging threats, adapt to evolving contexts, and expand the frontiers of cooperation, she stated, acknowledging the complex and evolving nature of financial crimes. Professor Opoku-Agyemang stressed the urgent need for a resilient and adaptive regional framework.
As leaders and stakeholders, our responsibility is to ensure that our regional architecture for combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism and Weapons remains robust, inclusive, and forward-looking. That architecture must be capable of addressing emerging threats within stable jurisdictions and across all of West Africa, she emphasised.
