The MENAFATF 41st Plenary commenced this morning, Wednesday, 12 November 2025, in Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain. The two-day meeting is chaired by Ms. Samia Abu Sharif, President of the MENAFATF, Member of the National AML/CFT Committee, and Head of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan’s FIU, and Mr. Hamed Al Zaabi, Vice-President of the MENAFATF, Secretary-General, and Vice-Chair of the National AML/CFT Committee in the United Arab Emirates. The Plenary is attended by AML/CFT/CPF experts from Member Countries, as well as observers from regional and international countries and organizations concerned with anti-money laundering, combating terrorist financing, and the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Within this pool of experts, these meetings present a genuine opportunity to strengthen and unify regional and international efforts led by the MENAFATF in the Middle East and North Africa region to anti-money laundering, combating terrorist financing, and the financing of proliferation, and to protect the region's economic, social, and political systems from the risks of such crimes. The effectiveness of AML/CFT systems will be discussed, along with the efforts and measures undertaken by each Member Country. The latest patterns and methods of money laundering at the regional and international levels will also be addressed, and experiences will be shared on best practices for combating them. Furthermore, the MENAFATF's efforts in capacity building and its ongoing development in the region will be presented.

On the sidelines of the Plenary Meeting, a workshop was held on Tuesday, 11 November 2025, to exchange experiences on the current round of mutual evaluations and the mechanism for implementing the latest FATF standards. The workshop included experts and speakers from the FATF, FSRBs, Member Countries, and several Assessed Countries.

It is worth noting that the current Plenary Meeting was preceded by several meetings of the MENAFATF’s Working Groups during the period 9-10 November 2025 in Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain, which included the Mutual Evaluation Working Group, the Technical Assistance and Typologies Work Group, the Financial Investigations Units Forum, the Risk Committee, and the Operational Experts Forum on Terrorist Financing