Fighting against money laundering and financing of terrorism requires closer cooperation throughout the world, incoming President of The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said Thursday in Hong Kong.

K Asmal, the incoming president, said at the closing ceremony of the two-day international conference that like any disease in the globalised world, money laundering in one place quickly moves across borders to another.

"Therefore we cannot tackle this problem on our own. We need to seek one another out and coordinate our actions so that our combined capacities strengthen our ability to deal with the problem," Asmal said.

As the world's leading standard setter in the areas of money laundering and terrorist financing, the FATF needs to be alert to new developments which impact on money laundering or terror financing and should retain the flexibility to make adjustments tothe standard if necessary, Asmal said.

In addition, the FATF will continue its program of mutual evaluations, in which members submit to an assessment of their legislation and implementation systems by their peers. The evaluations identify deficiencies in a member's systems, thus providing it with an opportunity to correct these in the months ahead.

Another important component of the FATF's overall efforts will continue its cooperation with other international bodies, Asmal said. It already has a relationship with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

It will also focus on building closer relationships with other organizations, such as the United Nations and international non-governmental organizations, especially those focused on anti-corruption issues, Asmal said.

Asmal will take over the FATF as the president in July, 2005.

Source: Xinhua