AZERBAIJAN INFORMED OF FATF STATEMENT AND GUIDANCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAKU 001377 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR ISN, T, EUR, AND NEA; ALSO PASS TO TREASURY E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/14/2017 TAGS: PARM PREL MNUC ECON IR AJ SUBJECT: AZERBAIJAN INFORMED OF FATF STATEMENT AND GUIDANCE ON IRAN REF: STATE 149648 Classified By: Acting Pol/Econ Chief David McCormick for reasons 1.4 (b ) and (d). ¶1. (C) Ambassador delivered reftel talking points to Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov on November ¶02. Thanking the Ambassador for informing him about the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) statement and guidance on Iran, Mammadyarov was supportive, saying that he had encouraged the Azerbaijani parliament to support joining the UN Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Counter Terrorist Finance (CFT) Convention in a recent letter to parliament. ¶2. (C) Embassy Econoff delivered reftel talking points to International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) Chairman Jahangir Hajiyev on November 09 (Note - IBA is majority state-owned and the largest bank in Azerbaijan.) Hajiyev thanked Econoff, adding that IBA had no banking relationships with Iran's Bank Melli (operational in Azerbaijan) or any other Iranian banks. ¶3. (C) The Embassy delivered reftel talking points to the Ministry of Finance and National Bank on November 15. Neither entity provided substantive comment about the FATF statement or guidance. ¶4. (C) The Embassy will continue to seek opportunities to encourage the Government of Azerbaijan (GOAJ) to take concrete steps to follow up on the FATF's statements. We will report any new developments septel. LU