France in bid to unify the world against terrorism financing

PARIS – The presidency of the conference on fighting the financing of terrorism, which will kick off in French capital Paris on Thursday, held a press briefing Tuesday to highlight some of the details of the international event.

A host of French journalists and writers attended the briefing, including Executive Director of the Middle East Center for Studies Ahmed Youssef, George Malbrunot, a Middle East affairs specialist at the French daily Le Figaro, and Christian Chesnot, a leading broadcaster at Radio France International.

French President Emmanuel Macron wants the conference, which is held at the ministerial and expert level, to mobilize the international community against the financing of terrorism as an epidemic, said France's Intelligence national co-coordinator Pierre de Bousquet, who is also responsible for organizing the conference.

The conference also, de Bousquet added, aims to give countries and concerned agencies the chance to exchange expertise.

He said the French president has belief that the international community has to race against abnormal advances in the field of terrorism financing technologies.

He said the focus in the coming months would be on charities that offer financial support to individuals and organizations, human trafficking and the trade in antiquities which turned into sources for the financing of terrorism, and secret bank accounts.

De Bousquet said Daesh still has a staggering $3 billion in secret bank accounts it is expected to invest in business projects to ensure an uninterrupted flow of money to its bloody activities.

He said some Arab government officials had expressed reservations against cracking down on secret bank accounts as a measure.  

Nonetheless, he said, consultations are being made to convince them of the importance of paying special attention to these accounts.

De Bousquet said France discussed a number of issues with the Emir of Qatar, including the fact that his country offers refuge to a number of terrorism financiers who are included in international terrorism lists.

He said the French government discussed the same issues with the US administration and Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman during his latest visit to Paris.

The Emir of Qatar, he said, had promised Macron to solve these problems in October this year at the latest.

De Bousquet said Macron is scheduled to pay a visit to a number of Arab Gulf states in October as well.

He said the Paris conference on fighting terrorism financing did not include the Muslim Brotherhood and Boko Haram on its agenda of discussions, because the French president did not want to put on the agenda of the conference what he described as "divisive" issues.

"The French president wants the world to be united away from any controversial issues," de Bousquet said.

This was why, he said, Daesh and al-Qaeda only were put at the center of conference discussions.  

The aim of the conference is to chart standards that unify the world, not divide it, de Bousquet added.

He said Iran was not invited to the conference because countries are divided on it.

He added that Turkey was invited to the conference, even as the French administration is not satisfied with Turkish efforts in the fight against terrorism.

Around 70 ministers are scheduled to attend the conference, along with 450 experts from 72 states.