DUBAI, The Executive Office for Control and Non-Proliferation (EOCN) held the first workshop to develop the national assessment on the risks of financing the proliferation of weapons. The workshop acquainted participants with the national assessment, which will be prepared in line with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations and UNSC resolutions on money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation.

The workshop also raised participants’ awareness of the objectives, scope, and methodology of the national assessment and informed the relevant entities on the required inputs to prepare the report.

In the three-day workshop, experts and specialists explained the risks of financing weapons proliferation and ways to identify threats and weaknesses, particularly those related to non-compliance with targeted financial sanctions and sanctions evasion.

The workshop was attended by representatives of customs authorities, regulators, customs brokers and shipping agents, as well as local registrants, the UAE Banks Federation, law enforcement, investigators, and prosecutors.

Since its establishment in 2009, EOCN has played an active role in strengthening export controls and reducing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and its associated technology based on policies, legislation, and domestic and international partnerships. EOCN is now the competent body entrusted with implementing the provisions of Federal Decree Law No. (43) of 2021 on the Commodities Subject to Non-Proliferation.

EOCN, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and other government entities, is also working to follow up on the implementation of UNSC resolutions concerning weapons proliferation and terrorism financing. This is in addition to coordinating and supervising the application of targeted financial sanctions relating to the terrorist list system.

Moreover, EOCN serves as the technical point of contact to follow up on the UAE’s obligations under the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, reflecting the UAE Government’s aim to maintain global security and stability in cooperation with international partners to ensure a world free of weapons of mass destruction.

Source: Emirates News Agency