TEHRAN, Feb. 24 (MNA) – Iranian President’s Chief of Staff Mahmoud Vaezi said that the government in its recent session has taken decisive measures to neutralize effects of Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

He made the remarks late on Mon. in a session of 'development and investment' in Fars province and added, “all responsible organizations and institutions should concentrate on developing the country which is of paramount importance especially at the current situation that the country is facing tough sanctions.”

He emphasized the government’s support of the activity of private sector and delegation of authority of public enterprises to the private sector and added, “President Rouhani believes that as long as economy of the country is not administered by the private sector, the economy will not boom, so, the government has focused on delegating activities to the private sector.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, Vaezi pointed to the event happened on Fri. in the field of FATF and stated, “the country faced such a similar situation on FATF in 2013 and encountered with many restrictions but the government made all its utmost efforts to get rid of such tough condition and drew up four bills in this regard. All these bills are in line with the policies and programs that we must carry out ourselves in the field of money laundering and combating financing the terrorism (CFT).”

He seized this opportunity to express his special thanks to the Parliament and Guardian Council in approval of FATF-related bills and added, “unfortunately, it is for about one year that these bills have been delayed in the Expediency Council and naturally, the Expediency Council should be held responsible for such delay.”

In spite of all restrictions and problems created for the country, “we can overcome these problems successfully in line with moving the country towards economic prosperity,” Iranian President’s Chief of Staff Vaezi highlighted.

It should be noted that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani condemned the Financial Action Task Force’s decision to blacklist Iran, saying the move will be used to justify the intensification of inhumane sanctions on the country.

MNA/4862245