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APEC ministers eye terrorist financing

"It is a never-ending process because terrorists have demonstrated they're not stupid."

US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill

Days before the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, finance ministers from across the Asia-Pacific region are meeting to find ways of rejuvenating stalled efforts to stanch the flow of money to terrorists.

Ministers from 20 countries, including Russia, the US and Taiwan are gathering in the resort town of Los Cabos, Mexico, on the tip of the Baja peninsula to coordinate action between countries aimed at stopping terrorists from shifting money around the world to finance attacks.

The talks, which will also include discussions on economics and trade, come after the United Nations warned last week that the effort to clamp down on terrorist financing has slowed, as al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups move funds outside the banking system, making them harder to track.

``We have been successful in terms of the number of assets seized and the amounts,'' said John Taylor, US Treasury undersecretary for international affairs, in an interview. "But we still have a lot to do and a long way to go."

Since January, only US$10 million belonging to al-Qaeda or other associated terrorist cells have been frozen, the UN said in a report. That compares with US$112 million blocked in the four months following Sept. 11.

Al-Qaeda has already found new sources of income as it seeks to dodge security nets.

The terrorist group and Afghanistan's Taliban have shipped ``significant'' quantities of gold to Sudan from Pakistan in recent weeks, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday, citing European, Pakistani and US investigators.

Terrorism experts estimate last year's strikes on Washington and New York may have cost al-Qaeda as much as US$500,000 to execute. Preventing terrorists from transferring funds and governments can avoid some attacks, they said.

"The Sept. 11 attacks highlighted the crime of terrorism financing," said Raul Martinez, spokesman for Mexico's Finance Ministry, which is hosting the meeting.

`We need to stop the inappropriate use of alternative financial systems and we want to be able to track where that money is.''

It's important to enlist Asian countries in the fight against terrorist financing because al-Qaeda is operating in the APEC-member countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines, Zachary Abuza, a professor at Simmons College in Massachusetts, wrote in a July report. He also said terrorist groups in Malaysia are in part responsible for al-Qaeda's finances.

Mexican officials said the ministers will seek to boost information-sharing among countries, following the example of US-Italian cooperation last week which led to the freezing of bank accounts of 11 individuals and 14 businesses suspected of having links to al-Qaeda. Italy blocked the funds with collaboration from officials in the US, the Bahamas and Luxembourg.

"If you're looking for the shutting down of terrorism financing to be the silver bullet, it's not going to happen," said William Wechsler, a former US National Security Council and Treasury adviser on terrorism. "But it will play an important part in taking them down over the long run."

US Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, who will attend the talks, said with more than 180 countries involved in the crackdown, and more than 9,500 people arrested, there has been some success. At the same time, he cautioned against complacency.

"It is a never-ending process because terrorists have demonstrated they're not stupid," O'Neill told C-Span yesterday.
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