The Plenary Meeting was opened on Tuesday, 26 November 2019 at JW Marriott Hotel, Cairo, under the auspices of the Egyptian Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Combating Unit (EMLCU).

The opening ceremony was launched by Mrs. Najwa Kamudi, director of the International Cooperation Department at the Libyan Financial Information Unit, who delivered a speech on behalf of Mr. Saddek Omar El Kaber, governor of the Central Bank of Libya and chairman of the National Committee for Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism, followed by speeches delivered by Dr. Subhi Musbah Zeed, MENAFATF President and Libyan FIU head, HE. the judge Ahmed Saeed Khalil, MENAFATF vice-president, deputy head of the Court of Cassation, president of the EMLCU board of trustees and president of the Egyptian National Coordination Committee on AML/CFT and HE. Dr. Alwaleed Bin Khaled Al-Sheikh, MENAFATF Executive Secretary.

The Plenary is attended by around 300 participants representing the MENAFATF Arab member countries, observers from several foreign countries, and relevant international and regional organizations and bodies. It is worth noting that the Plenary Meeting is part of the MENAFATF week, as this Meeting was preceded by the MENAFATF working groups and forums meetings held over three days and the Plenary Meeting was convened from 26 to 28 November 2019.

The Plenary Meeting discusses several major topics relating to the MENAFATF work, the most important of which include the discussion of the FATF action plan relating to the improvement of the MENAFATF performance effectiveness. Furthermore, the Mutual Evaluation Report (MER) for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which reflects its level of compliance with the international standards issued by the FATF in the AML/CFT field, the Follow-Up Report (FUR) for the Kingdom of Bahrain, and the FUR for the Republic of Tunisia which includes a request for some technical compliance re-ratings in its MER will be also discussed and adopted. The update of the Voluntary Tax Compliance Follow-Up Program in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the relationship of the MENAFATF with international and regional bodies and organizations working in the field of money laundering and the financing of terrorism, the existing and future cooperation with them, the most important of which being the FATF will be addressed, in addition to the examination of some working papers on the plans, funding, and other organizational and administrative issues.

These meetings are part of the consolidation of regional and international efforts in the Middle East and North Africa Region to combat money laundering and associated predicate offenses and to fight the financing of terrorism and proliferation, in order to protect economic, social and political systems from the risks posed by these crimes. At the end of the Plenary, several important decisions and recommendations will be taken with respect to the topics listed on the agenda as regards the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.