India to host 'No Money for Terror' Ministerial Conference in Delhi

New Delhi, November 8: Dedicated to the fight against terror financing, India is slated to host a two-day 'No Money For Terrorism' Ministerial Conference here next week, top government sources said.

This is the third conference of its kind being organised in Delhi on November 18-19 with ministers, diplomats and counter-terrorism experts from the member states of the Egmont Group expected to attend the meeting, a high-placed source, privy to the development.

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The third edition of the conference is being organised here by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the supervision of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

The first such meeting was held in Paris (France) in 2018 and the second in Melbourne (Australia), in 2019. Nearly 65 nations participated in the 2019 conference.

India was to host the conference in 2020 but it was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The conference is organised by Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) of over 150 countries, jointly called the Egmont Group.

Discussion on 'Countering Financing of Radicalisation (CFR)', which would prevent radicalisation -- an essential prerequisite of terrorism-- and misuse of virtual assets, especially crypto-currencies, are among the focussed agenda of the conference, said a senior official in India's FIU on condition of anonymity.

Among other prominent issues of the meeting is to improve the sharing of information and cooperation between FIUs.

In the second edition of the conference in Melbourne, India called for a united global effort against all those who support terror or help generate finances for terror. India also pointed out how terror groups are active on social media and that undermines any ban the United Nations (UN) might have.

The proposed points for inclusion in the resolution in the 2019 'No Money For Terror' conference, mentioned terrorism as the single biggest threat to peace, security and development. In the meeting, it was decided that the actions must expedite the finalisation of a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism under the United Nations (UN).

It was also stressed that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards must be effectively enforced and UN listings or FATF should not be politicised.

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The upcoming conference is being organised days after India hosted a special meeting of the United Nations Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) in Mumbai and Delhi. India organised the CTC meeting on October 29 to discuss challenges to the global counter-terrorism architecture.