Developing Good Practices Manual on Establishing Effective Public-Private Cooperation in Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) in Southeast Asia
On 7-8 October 2025, the IIJ held its first Expert Group Meeting (EGM) aimed at Developing Good Practices Manual on Establishing Effective Public-Private Cooperation (PPC) in Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) in Southeast Asia. The activity became the first step towards developing a regional guiding document to address a gap identified by participating jurisdictions within the framework of the multi-year Canada-funded project on Building Capacity and Improving Cooperation Mechanisms on Countering the Financing of Terrorism in Southeast Asia.
The goal of the manual is to offer participating countries recommendations and good practices on improving their PPC mechanisms, presented in a user-friendly and practice-oriented manner to be used in daily work and tailored to the needs and capacities of the region. The first EGM focused on key thematic areas that will be covered by the manual: analysis of current regulatory frameworks in participating jurisdictions and potential for legal reforms; review of existing PPC models and assessment of their potential for replication and scalability; and review of cross-cutting issues applicable to public-private cooperation in CFT, such as financial inclusion, human rights implications, unintended consequences for private entities and gender mainstreaming priorities.
The EGM was attended by CFT practitioners from Cambodia, Indonesia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, who shared their experiences and views on public-private cooperation. Participants’ valuable insights were carefully collected and will be analysed and summarised by the project team to extract good practices and recommendations for inclusion in the manual.
Opening remarks were delivered by Mr Reinhard Uhrig, IIJ Director of Administration and Outreach; Atty Matthew M. David, Executive Director, Anti-Money Laundering Council of the Philippines; Mr Rogelio V. Quevedo, Commissioner, Securities & Exchange Commission of the Philippines; and Mr Jesse Hermogenes Andres, Undersecretary of Justice, Department of Justice of the Philippines. Speakers confirmed commitment to joining efforts in countering the financing of terrorism and reaffirmed establishing effective public-private cooperation mechanisms as a key regional priority.
Quote from Department of Justice Philippines: “The manual should become a declaration of commitment coming from each jurisdiction, which will ensure compliance, respect and willingness to follow its provisions. Discussions have shown that the differences in legislation are not a hurdle for this work. Jurisdictions can find common ground and assist each other.”