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By Samuel Asamoah
The Director General of the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA), Edwin W. Harris Jr., will lead a high-powered delegation to Liberia from August 11 to 13, 2025, for a high-level advocacy mission aimed at strengthening the country’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) framework.
The visit forms part of preparatory engagements for the GIABA 44th Plenary and Technical Commission meeting, scheduled for November 17–21, 2025, in Monrovia. The mission will also focus on sensitizing Liberia’s political leadership on the nation’s readiness for its upcoming 3rd round Mutual Evaluation Report (MER) process, due for adoption in 2031.
Liberia’s most recent MER was adopted in May 2023, placing the country under an Enhanced Follow-Up regime. Since then, Liberia has taken steps to address strategic deficiencies in its AML/CFT/Counter Proliferation Financing (CPF) systems. These include passing the Control Drug and Substance Act, 2023; adopting beneficial ownership regulations; approving a national AML/CFT Action Plan (2024–2028); conducting sectoral risk assessments; establishing an Office of Asset Recovery; joining the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units; and providing resources to key institutions.
Despite these gains, GIABA has highlighted the need for further reforms, including extending money laundering provisions to cover foreign predicate offences, criminalizing the financing of foreign terrorist fighters, implementing targeted financial sanctions for proliferation financing, identifying non-profit organizations at risk of terrorist financing abuse, strengthening supervision of designated non-financial businesses and professions, and maintaining comprehensive AML/CFT statistics.
During the visit, DG Harris will meet with President Joseph Boakai, the Ministers of Justice, Finance, and Interior, the Governor of the Central Bank of Liberia, the leadership of the Financial Intelligence Agency, the Inter-Ministerial Committee, and the National Coordination Team for Mutual Evaluation, among others.
GIABA says hosting the Plenary in Monrovia will not only strengthen Liberia’s AML/CFT posture but also provide economic benefits and raise the country’s global profile. Liberia last hosted the GIABA Plenary in May 2017.
The GIABA Secretariat is headquartered in Dakar, Senegal, and operates as a specialized institution of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), working to ensure member states adopt effective measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
