- ARAB NEWS
- 01 May 2025
Since 1975
The term “Gulf States”, i.e. the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the Sultanate of Oman and the Kingdom of Bahrain, covers a wide range of realities, from the gigantism of Dubai and the rational development of the Sultanate of Oman, to the societal revolution of Saudi Arabia and its Vision 2030.
Yet, these Gulf countries are holding a business forum in Paris. The “Vision Golfe” business forum, organized by Business France in particular, will welcome over 700 business leaders for 48 hours in Paris from June 4 to 6, 2024, in partnership with Arab News.
With French investment in the region topping €9 billion, this partnership is vital to our economy.
Needless to say, the region’s luxury goods and oil industries are well represented, as are the cultural and tourism industries, notably through the exceptional partnership with the French Agency for the Development of AlUla.
The region’s market continues to develop spectacularly, in line with its seemingly infinite contributory skills, and is also continuing to structure itself – a point that should be highlighted.
It is important to focus on the business climate, as the region and some of its members have long been stigmatized for their lack of concern for the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
We need to put an end to these preconceived ideas, which make people lazy, and look reality in the face.
All is not yet perfect, but perfection is not of this world, even less so in the world of business, where real politics and business as usual reign supreme… progress in terms of compliance with international standards is evident, particularly in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
What’s at stake?
Money laundering represents 3 percent of the world’s GNP, or over $2,200 billion.
Migrant smuggling represents $7 billion.
Counterfeit luxury goods cost European companies over $27 billion a year.
Piracy before the Gaza war cost the world economy over $26 billion.
We’re talking astronomical sums!
Not all money laundering finances terrorism, but all terrorist actions are financed by money laundering.
So it’s only natural that the term used internationally to combat this scourge is AML/CFT – Anti-Money Laundering/Counter Terrorism Financing.
The Gulf States are involved in this battle.
What is the institutional context?
Two bodies ensure that countries comply with the AML/CFT requirements: the FATF and the Egmont Group.
The Egmont Group was founded in 1995 to facilitate cooperation between financial intelligence units in the fight against money laundering.
Over time, the mission of FIUs and the Egmont Group has expanded to include the fight against money laundering, related underlying offenses and terrorist financing. The Egmont Group focuses on international collaboration and cooperation between FIUs.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), for its part, leads a global effort to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism. This 40-member body sets international standards so that national authorities can effectively combat illicit funds from drug trafficking, human trafficking, the illegal arms trade, cyber-fraud, counterfeiting, etc.
The FATF has an evaluation mission to assess whether countries are taking measures in line with the defined standards, and meeting their commitments to implement the standards as part of a coordinated global response to prevent organized crime, corruption and terrorism.
Countries and jurisdictions are assessed with the help of nine FATF associate member organizations and other global partners, such as the IMF and the World Bank.
The FATF Plenary – FATF’s decision-making body – meets three times a year to assess the situation of the countries evaluated on a regular basis. In the event of dysfunction or bad faith in the application of the FATF’s recommendations, a country may be designated as a jurisdiction subject to increased surveillance, or as a high-risk jurisdiction, and included on a “grey and black list”.
This obviously has consequences for the business climate.
The Gulf Cooperation Council is a member of the FATF. Saudi Arabia is an individual member, whereas the five Gulf countries are members of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF).
None of the GCC countries is now on the grey list of non-cooperative countries.
Qatar was assessed in May 2023 with real progress in compliance with international standards, but still has work to do on prosecutions and anti-money laundering.
The Sultanate of Oman requested technical assistance from the European Union’s global AML/CFT mechanisms at the end of 2023.
The United Arab Emirates came off the FATF’s grey list in April 2024, and must continue its efforts.
Certain issues remain, which are the subject of increased cooperation, notably with the French intelligence service TRACFIN, an agreement having recently been signed in February 2024.
The assessment of Kuwait is due to be discussed in June 2024 and that of Oman in October 2024.
So we’ll be talking about that again.
We will now focus on Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia is a regional driving force in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
We remember the campaign launched by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman titled “No money for Terror” in April 2018, and words have been followed by deeds. Member of the FATF since 2019, the Kingdom has built a solid architecture for combating corruption, money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
For the first time in December 2022, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, represented by the Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority, hosted the first ministerial meeting of anti-corruption law enforcement agencies in OIC member states to adopt the Makkah Al-Mukarramah Convention.
This unique meeting marks a decisive step forward in the cooperation of member countries represented by the heads and representatives of anti-corruption agencies in the member states of the OIC, the second largest international organization after the United Nations, with 57 members included.
Several international organizations were also present, including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) and the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units, as well as numerous experts in the field of integrity protection and anti-corruption in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and abroad.
The Makkah Al-Mukarramah convention aims to achieve several objectives, including strengthening cooperation between anti-corruption agencies, exchanging information and investigating cross-border corruption crimes between anti-corruption law enforcement agencies, preventing and investigating corruption crimes, prosecuting perpetrators, preventing corrupt individuals from finding safe havens and recovering the proceeds of crimes.
In May 2024, the Arab Forum of Anti-Corruption Agencies and Financial Investigation Units was held in Riyadh, with the same strong commitment to preventing and prosecuting financial crime.
This strong commitment to fighting corruption with the powerful NAZAHA agency offers a more favorable business climate in a buoyant market.
If “business as usual” doesn’t care about “Name and Shame”, it’s not insignificant to operate in a clean environment.
It was undoubtedly for reasons of the general business climate that the European Parliament refused to remove the Emirates from the FATF grey list, as international investigations carried out by consortia of journalists leave less and less room for the opacity of certain states.
As the aim of “Vision Golfe” is to strengthen economic cooperation between France and the GCC countries, the point of compliance certainly has its place, just as much as tax and legal agreements, which are so many guarantees for the security of economic relations.
Saudi Arabia participates in the work of nine OECD committees, and adheres to seven of its legal instruments. Thanks to the establishment of an Inter-Ministerial Committee, the country continues its technical collaboration in various areas of public action, such as public governance and regulatory policy, skills and education, corporate governance and finance, investment policy, anti-corruption and trade facilitation.
On January 17, 2024, at the Davos Forum, the OECD and the Saudi Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at strengthening their cooperation in several areas, and exploring opportunities to align the Kingdom’s policies and practices with relevant OECD standards.
So, with a strengthened legal framework, strong action against financial crime, money laundering, corruption and the financing of terrorism, and open governance as part of the Saudi Vision 2030 … all the good things seem to be in place for a successful edition of Vision Golfe 2024 and a solid partnership between French and Saudi companies.
All that remains is to organize a meeting in Normandy… a land of champions in the agri-food sector, the industrial sector and, of course, the equine sector.
