The Pan Afrikanist Watchman

St. Petersburg, Russia

A panel discussion on ‘International Cooperation in Financial Security’ will be part of the business programme of the Russia–Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum as part of the ‘New Global Economy’ track today (July 27) in St. Petersburg, Russia.

In today’s world, the fight against financial crime is complicated by the fact that the theft of funds takes place in the absence of physical contact, and the interaction between the perpetrator and the potential victim takes place in virtual space or through the use of communications.

Financial technology, which is experiencing an explosive growth, allows literally dozens of cross-border transfers to be made around the world in a matter of seconds.

These convenient information and financial technologies are actively used by fraudsters, drug traffickers, terrorists, corrupt officials, human and arms traffickers, and other criminals.

Investigating their crimes and unravelling their ‘financial traces’ is impossible without cooperation between the competent government authorities of different countries whose jurisdictions are affected by these crimes.

The panellists will answer the following questions: what is needed to strengthen bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the area of financial security, anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism, and what needs to be done to effectively carry out preventive work, including with young people, to explain how these offences (fraud is among them) are committed?

“In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, significant segments of the economy and, consequently, financial activity of citizens have gone online.

“The sector of shadow web markets has expanded, the number of duplicate websites disguised as original ones is growing, the number of cases of funds embezzlement from bank cards and e-mail spamming for this purpose are increasing, and the use of cryptocurrencies by terrorist groups as one of the safest ways of self-financing is gaining momentum.

“Countering the financing of terrorism is one of the key areas on the agenda of international antiterrorist cooperation,” Alexey Lyzhenkov, Deputy Director of the Department for New Challenges and Threats, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, said.

The panel discussion is scheduled for 14:00 in conference hall G1 (pavilion G) at the ExpoForum here St. Petersburg, Russia will be moderated by Nikolay Zhuravlev, Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.

The following participants will join the discussion: German Neglyad, State Secretary – Deputy Director, Federal Financial Monitoring Service; Ilya Yasinskiy, Director of Financial Monitoring and Currency Control Department, Bank of Russia; Alexey Lyzhenkov, Deputy Director of the Department for New Challenges and Threats, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation; Ahmed Said Hussein Khalil, Chairman, Egyptian Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Combating Unit; and Dubale Mukuken Yirga, Head of Legal Division, Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group, etc.

The Roscongress Foundation is the organizer of the Second Russia–Africa Summit and Economic and Humanitarian Forum.