President Stevo Pendarovski addressed Thursday regional forum “Non-profit organizations and risk assessment – engagement and lessons learned for efficient implementation”, organized by the Financial Intelligence Unit within the Ministry of Finance, the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL) and Konekt association.
Pendarovski said the report is very important for North Macedonia as a set of good international practices that represent an opportunity for experience and know-how exchange, expecting Moneyval (Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism) to carry out in 2022 a rigorous assessment of the entire state system and its preparedness to identify money laundering risks, the President’s Office said in a press release.
“This report on the risk assessment of terrorism financing for non-profit organizations in our country gives hope that implementation of recommendations will result in a stronger system that is increasingly prepared to cope with the threat of terrorism and illicit financing sources,” said President Pendarovski.
He stressed the need of a mechanism for early detection of terrorism financing by organizations hiding behind formal names in the non-governmental sector.
“The Macedonian public should be properly informed and educated on the activities of non-profit organizations, which should themselves strengthen their capacities to identify risks arising from money laundering and terrorism financing,” added Pendarovski.
He noted that the fight against terrorism should be comprehensive, intersectoral and systematic.
“We must strengthen our current capacities and build the resilience of our security and financial systems to potential terrorist attacks,” said Pendarovski.
