The Vietnamese Government is determined to prevent and fight money laundering and terrorist financing in line with international recommendations and commitments, especially those of the Financial Action Task Force and the Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG).

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh made the affirmation at the 15 th APG Typologies Workshop , which opened in Hanoi on November 19.

Ninh said Vietnam will apply synchronised measures to fight money laundering and terrorist financing, including the building and completing of legal frameworks to meet international standards.

Before entering APG, Vietnam released the decree on anti-money laundering. Since May 2007, when Vietnam joined the group, the country has criminalised money laundering and terrorist financing activities by including them in the Criminal Code. In June 2012, the National Assembly adopted the law on anti-money laundering , which will come into force on January 1, 2013, said the PM.

David Shannon, APG Principal Executive Officer, said APG supports its members to “chase” the money behind the criminals in order to diminish their impacts on the economy and society.

This year’s workshop aims to unite countries in the Asia-Pacific region to fight against all types of criminals and terrorism, he said.

Addressing the workshop, Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Nguyen Van Binh said money laundering and terrorist financing are problems that threaten the transparency of the global financial system. It is necessary to study all money laundering and terrorist financing methods in order to complete the legal frameworks and make financial policies to effectively fight against these types of criminals.

This year’s workshop has also attracted the participation of the private sector, demonstrating regular coordination and information sharing between governments and financial institutions.

The five-day event will also review research on the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing from designated non-financial sectors, implicit money transfer systems and corrupt asset laundering.


Founded in 1997 in Bangkok, the Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering is an autonomous and collaborative international organisation with 41 members and a number of international and regional observers./.VNA