​On June 01 a regular session of “The Standing Committee on Combating Money Laundering, Terrorism Financing and Proliferation Financing in the Republic of Armenia” established by the Presidential Ordinance No NK-1075 from March 21, 2002 (hereafter Interagency committee), was held in the Central Bank of Republic of Armenia. 

During the session, in addition to the other items of the agenda, the Interagency committee also discussed the problems of conducting AML/CFT national risk assessment, the methodology of it and also international developments in this field. With the aim of the latter issue Mr. Paul DerGarabedyan, an international expert in the field of AML/CFT risk assessment, Senior Financial Crime Specialist of US Department of Treasury, was invited to the session. The participants of the session highlighted the importance and need of conducting AML/CFT national risk assessment in RA, the consistent implementation of the action plan resulting from national risk assessment, and also the importance of ongoing study of international best practice in this field. During the session Mr. Paul DerGarabedyan, who was actively involved in the US AML/CFT national risk assessment, presented international best practice with US example. The Interagency committee also discussed the process of implementation of the action plans adopted by the Interagency committee, the annual report of the FMC of the CBA, as well as cooperational issues between the members of the Interagency Committee.

It is planned to organize a seminar on June 2 for the representatives’ of banks, during which Mr. Paul DerGarabedyan will share his experience and knowledge with them presenting the need of assessing the AML/CFT risks within the financial institutions and the international best practice. 

Later, on June 5-6 a round table discussion will be held with the participation of working group memberս of the Interagency committee and Mr. DerGarabedyan, during which the problems of conducting AML/CFT national risk assessment and ML investigations will be discussed in more details.