. it is worth mentioning here the approval by the council of ministers of updating the aml law to fully comply with international requirements, especially with the assessment team ’ s recommendations stated in the assessment report on the kingdom. this is a clear sign of the government of the custodian of the two holy mosques ’ attention paid to compliance with combating money laundering and terrorism financing in line with international standards in this regards. dear audience, the international, regional and national combined efforts to combat money laundering and terrorism financing are stringent evidence of combating those crimes and the consequent bis central bankers ’ speeches economic, social and security risks they may cause. accordingly, the kingdom has supported efforts aimed at developing international frameworks capable of monitoring the global financial system to detect such offenses. the kingdom is one of the countries that participated in and called for the creation of the middle east and north africa financial action task force. it is still supporting all the efforts of the fatf and menafatf, whether through its permanent participation in work teams and supporting activities that enhance the work of the two entities or through its commitment to raise the level of its government organs, financial and non - financial institutions and making sure that its related laws are in line with the international requirements. in addition, it supports the imf ’ s technical assistance fund. ladies and gentlemen, to achieve our objective, we should work together to promote awareness of the gravity of such crimes and protect all segments of the society, its government organizations, and financial and non - financial institutions. in this aspect, i would like to refer to the recent fatf ’ s recommendations issued to strengthen the international efforts in the fight against this global scourge and make necessary adjustments to the systems and techniques of their detection and combating. on this occasion, i would like make reference to the results achieved by fatf, after reviewing and revising the recommendations. there is no doubt that the updated recommendations will enhance the level and methods of protection of the economic system against such type of crimes threatening it. in conclusion, i would like to express my thanks and gratitude for your respected group for its achievements accomplished during its short life, wishing you continued success. i thank the organizers for their efforts. i also welcome you again in the kingdom of saudi arabia and i hope that your meetings in this session will be a success. bis central bankers ’ speeches

international capital markets, in the provision of their economic and financial data to the public. countries that subscribe to the sdds agree to follow good practices in four areas which include the coverage, periodicity, and timeliness of data, public access to those data, data integrity, and data quality. earlier this year, the imf board expanded the scope of the sdds to include seven financial soundness indicators in order to make all stakeholders better understand cross - border linkages, and made it mandatory for participating nations to report international investment positions on a quarterly basis over a transition period of four years. indeed, the sdds is a global benchmark for disseminating macroeconomic data to the public. so far 64 countries have subscribed to the sdds. the gdds, on the other hand, was launched in 1997 for member countries with less developed statistical systems. this system gives member countries a basic framework for a broader national statistical development strategy, addresses the full range of issues critical for compiling and disseminating data, and makes explicit plans for improvement to align national procedures with best practices. until now, the number of participating countries in gdds is 106. both standards share several common features, and have successfully contributed to enhancing the range, quality, and timeliness of country data available to the public. they have also been instrumental in providing better information to underpin the operations of international financial markets and economic policy assessments in general, and thus facilitating public and private decision making. may countries that have participated in gdds be able to eventually join the club of the sdds. this is what saudi arabia has planned for. dear participants, this 5 - day workshop is to expand on many data - related issues and standards, including the ones that i have just talked about. some of the important topics which would be covered over the next five days include : 1. imf's key data dissemination initiatives 2. essentials of sdds and its subscription 3. essentials of standardized report forms 4. development details of statistical bulletin tables proposed by the gcc monetary union. this workshop will provide an opportunity for all gcc organizations in the statistical community to share national experiences, and lead discussions to identify areas for mutual cooperation for further improvement in data production and presentation. i may emphasize here that timely availability of reliable and mutually consistent national data would be of great help to the gcc monetary council in its task of preparing for the achievement of the ultimate goal of gcc monetary union