Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein asked his German counterpart Heiko Maas to help exclude Iraq from the EU’s list of countries with weak anti-money laundering and terrorist financing rules, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
According to the statement, the foreign ministers of Iraq and Germany held a telephone conversation during which they discussed a number of topics, including bilateral relations.
“Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein called on his German counterpart to support the removal of Iraq from the list of countries with a high risk of money laundering and terrorist financing”, – the ministry said in a statement.
Iraq was included in the list of third countries with weak rules against money laundering and terrorist financing in October 2016. Anti-money laundering and terrorist financing legislation obliges the EU to identify third countries that have deficiencies in the regimes to combat these phenomena, which poses a significant threat to the EU financial system. The purpose of the lists is to protect the EU financial system from the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing coming from third countries.