2025-10-22
Qatar, UK Explore Joint Co-Operation Opportunities To Combat Terrorism Financing
Qatar and the UK today explored opportunities for joint cooperation and knowledge exchange to strengthen the international efforts in combating terrorism financing.
This was underscored by the Qatar Central Bank (QCB) Assistant Governor for Supervision Hamad Ahmad al-Mulla in his opening remarks at the workshop on combating terrorism financing, organised by the National Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Committee (NAMLC), in cooperation with the British Embassy, Doha.
The NAMLC assumes a prominent role in coordinating between various State authorities concerned with combating Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing; communicates and cooperates with regional and international peers to unify anti-money laundering efforts.
He said the workshop serves as a valuable opportunity for national entities to enhance their acquisition of best practices used in the UK and to establish direct communication channels with their counterparts there, contributing to the development of national policies and procedures, improving the efficiency of work teams, and enhancing coordination among various concerned bodies.
The workshop discussed several important topics, including the nature of threats and general trends in terrorism financing, public-private partnership models, joint prosecutions and investigations, the role of law enforcement authorities and regulatory bodies in combating terrorism financing, as well as the UK's global strategy and approach to international sanctions, in addition to the use of crypto assets and crowdfunding as potential tools for illicit financing.
Alastair Totty, Director of the Counter-Terrorism Department in the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, highlighted the cooperation with the Qatari side in combating terrorism financing, pointing to the importance of exchanging expertise between both parties.
The UK "is firmly committed to disrupting terrorism financing, with its current focus within the UK is on detecting and preventing self-financing and the misuse of legitimate sectors, whereas its focus internationally is on targeting the financial infrastructure that supports major terrorist organisations", he said.
"The UK is working on updating its international counter-terrorism strategy to ensure its integration with the broader counter-terrorism strategy," he added.
Highlighting that the use of new technologies continues to challenge traditional detection and disruption tools like Bitcoin; he said this evolution means the response also needs to adapt.
"We will work more closely with our priority countries across regions, notably the Gulf, East Africa, South and Southeast Asia.
This was underscored by the Qatar Central Bank (QCB) Assistant Governor for Supervision Hamad Ahmad al-Mulla in his opening remarks at the workshop on combating terrorism financing, organised by the National Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Committee (NAMLC), in cooperation with the British Embassy, Doha.
The NAMLC assumes a prominent role in coordinating between various State authorities concerned with combating Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing; communicates and cooperates with regional and international peers to unify anti-money laundering efforts.
He said the workshop serves as a valuable opportunity for national entities to enhance their acquisition of best practices used in the UK and to establish direct communication channels with their counterparts there, contributing to the development of national policies and procedures, improving the efficiency of work teams, and enhancing coordination among various concerned bodies.
The workshop discussed several important topics, including the nature of threats and general trends in terrorism financing, public-private partnership models, joint prosecutions and investigations, the role of law enforcement authorities and regulatory bodies in combating terrorism financing, as well as the UK's global strategy and approach to international sanctions, in addition to the use of crypto assets and crowdfunding as potential tools for illicit financing.
Alastair Totty, Director of the Counter-Terrorism Department in the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, highlighted the cooperation with the Qatari side in combating terrorism financing, pointing to the importance of exchanging expertise between both parties.
The UK "is firmly committed to disrupting terrorism financing, with its current focus within the UK is on detecting and preventing self-financing and the misuse of legitimate sectors, whereas its focus internationally is on targeting the financial infrastructure that supports major terrorist organisations", he said.
"The UK is working on updating its international counter-terrorism strategy to ensure its integration with the broader counter-terrorism strategy," he added.
Highlighting that the use of new technologies continues to challenge traditional detection and disruption tools like Bitcoin; he said this evolution means the response also needs to adapt.
"We will work more closely with our priority countries across regions, notably the Gulf, East Africa, South and Southeast Asia.
The foreign office, alongside the home office, Ministry of Defence and the UK intelligence agencies will continue to coordinate our efforts to disrupt these networks and strengthen our partners' capabilities," according to him.
Source: GULF TIMES