A regional workshop on countering the financing of terrorism brought together participants from relevant agencies from across South-Eastern Europe. The workshop was organized by the OSCE Transnational Threat Department and the OSCE Mission to Montenegro on 10 and 11 March in Budva, Montenegro.
The event focused on strengthening regional co-operation in terrorist financing investigations involving cryptocurrencies and other evolving technologies. Participants delivered briefings on terrorism financing trends. They also took part in a scenario-based exercise that enabled them to collaborate on and practice risk triage, selecting co-operation channels, and drafting targeted information requests.
"Workshops such as this provide a valuable opportunity to strengthen regional co-operation, exchange operational experiences, discuss evolving trends and challenges, and explore ways to improve cross-border investigations and information-sharing mechanisms," said Ambassador Jan Haukaas, Head of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro.
The event also included presentations by experts from Europol and FINTRAIL, a global consultancy supporting banks, FinTechs and other regulated institutions in managing financial crime risk and regulatory compliance, on evolving technologies such as virtual assets and new payment methods, as well as case studies and practical examples of co-operation in terrorist financing investigations. The regional workshop concluded with concrete recommendations on enhancing information-sharing and advancing counter-terrorism financing investigations.
The event took place under the OSCE extrabudgetary project "Train-the-Trainer and Training Courses on Countering Terrorist Financing" funded by the United States. The follow-up project FOLLOW will build on the achievements and recommendations from the event.
