Int'l money laundering conference opens in Bali

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A two-day international conference on money laundering and terrorist financing opens in Bali on Tuesday, with participating countries expected to issue a statement expressing political intent to strengthen their ability to prevent money laundering activities.

Co-hosted by Indonesia and Australia, the conference will also serve as an opportunity for some 30 countries to compare notes on how each country deals with the problem.

"The conference aims at supporting national and regional measures in dealing with terrorism, strengthening participating countries' ability to detect financial sources of such crimes," said a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs director general for political cooperation Makmur Widodo said on Monday that the conference would issue two documents:

"The co-chair statement will underline commitments from participating countries to overcome these crimes," Makmur told The Jakarta Post, "while the second document will be the co-chair report, which consists of experience and measures that have been taken by the countries in dealing with the crimes," he added.

However, Makmur said that the conference would not issue a common plan of action as such crimes feel under each country's banking legislations.

"Only by exchanging views and experience do we hope to learn more on how we must improve our legislation and abilities to handle such activities," he added.

Most countries in the Asia-Pacific rim are slated to participate in the two-day conference.

Also attending the conference are several international financial organizations such as the World Bank (WB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The conference will be officially opened by Indonesian Minister for Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda and Australian Minister of Justice Chris Ellison.

Terrorism issues have encroached upon the region and the lives of its people following the Bali bomb blast on Oct. 12 and the inclusion of Jemaah Islamiyah, a terrorist network operating in Southeast Asia, on the United Nations list of terrorist groups.

To stamp out terrorism, countries in the region have sought cooperation in many fields, with money laundering and terrorist financing among the main discussions.

"We are eager to find a road map to how we are going to fight the crimes together," Makmur said.