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3/19/2020

Counter ISIS Finance Group Leaders Issue Joint Statement | U.S. Department of the Treasury

Counter ISIS Finance Group Leaders Issue Joint Statement
November 20, 2019

Global Coalition to Counter ISIS Holds Twel h Finance Working Group Meeting in Luxembourg
Luxembourg– On November 19 and 20, the Counter ISIS Finance Group (CIFG) convened its 56
member states and observers to discuss the ongoing global e orts to counter ISIS financing.
This was the twel h meeting of this group co-chaired by the United States, Italy, and Saudi
Arabia. The CIFG, established in January 2015 as one of five working groups within the Global
Coalition to Counter ISIS, is a broad international group formed to degrade and ultimately
defeat ISIS.
The below joint statement can be attributed to leaders of the CIFG:
“The Global Coalition has made significant progress in the fight against ISIS. ISIS’s so-called
‘caliphate’ has collapsed. The Coalition has successfully removed ISIS’s leader, Abu Bakr alBaghdadi. The terrorist group has lost all of the territory it once controlled in Iraq and Syria. Yet
ISIS continues to skulk in the shadows, in Iraq and Syria, with branches, a iliates, and cells
around the world. Accordingly, the work of the CIFG remains more important than ever, and the
member nations committed today to intensify their e orts to drain ISIS’s resources and disrupt
its financial flows.”
“The finance working group is used by member countries to identify and disrupt ISIS’s ability to
generate revenue and access financial systems. On the first day of the meeting, CIFG members
shared information to continue building a common understanding of the evolving threat posed
by ISIS. Members discussed specific successes in identifying terrorist financiers and facilitators
and bringing them to justice. They also shared specific information how ISIS is working to adapt
to Coalition pressure and steps members are taking to ensure the group’s financial resources
and flows dwindle and frustrate its global ambitions. Developments in Iraq, Europe, and
Southeast Asia were discussed. Delegates also discussed ISIS’s abuse of the non-profit sector
and virtual currencies, and ISIS’s exploitation of antiquities for fundraising. CIFG members also
discussed the continued risk posed by ISIS’s use of front companies and e orts to undermine
the process of reconstruction in liberated areas of Iraq. On the second day of the meeting,
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3/19/2020

Counter ISIS Finance Group Leaders Issue Joint Statement | U.S. Department of the Treasury

delegates discussed the ISIS threat in Africa and best practices for working with private sector
partners to shut ISIS out of the global financial system.”
“ISIS is desperately adapting its fundraising and financial facilitation techniques. Our Coalition
is tracking and adapting as well. The CIFG’s twel h meeting added new member and observer
countries to the Coalition, enhanced collaboration among like-minded countries and
multilateral organizations, and reinforced the fact that the CIFG continues to play an essential
role in the Global Coalition’s broader fight to ensure the enduing defeat of ISIS.”

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https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm834

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