it increases the opportunities of spreading corruption and bribery. dear audience, i would like to commend the fruitful coordination and cooperation between the appropriate entities of ministries, security and judicial authorities, and financial and non - financial institutions for combating money laundering. i would like to present a briefing on accomplishments achieved during the last year, the most important of which were : the kingdom achieved tangible progress in its aml procedures, in the framework of the follow - up process that followed the mutual assessment process. the kingdom submitted the first follow - up report to the menafatf in february 2012. the report includes the new and updated legislations issued and the actions taken to cope with the implementation of all international standards and practices issued recently. bis central bankers ’ speeches the kingdom amended the anti - money laundering law issued by royal decree no. ( m / 31 ) dated 11 / 5 / 1433h to cover many domestic and international requirements and developments. its implementing regulation was updated as well. here, i would like to highlight that the national aml legislation was finalized in line with international developments and standards. the kingdom hosted a number of conferences, symposiums and training courses on combating money laundering. the most important of which was the fifteenth mena - fatf general meeting held in april 2012 in jeddah. in september 2012, the investigation and public prosecution authority, in cooperation with mena - fatf, also hosted a symposium on “ the role and responsibility of public prosecution agencies and judicial organs in combating money laundering and terrorism financing ”. in september 2012, sama, in collaboration with the secretariat general of the cooperation council for the arab states of the gulf, organized a workshop on updating fatf recommendations to combat money laundering, terrorism financing and weapons proliferation. all supervisory authorities in the kingdom, including sama, continued their efforts in performing periodical inspections in the area of anti - money laundering over entities under their supervision in accordance with the concept of the risk ratio standard to increase efficiency of control and supervision operations and benefit from the capabilities available in various fields to ensure the application of instructions and regulations. dear audience, bearing in mind the risks posed to our economy by money laundering and emphasizing its supervisory and control role, sama issues continuous instructions and updates regulations and guidelines to cope with domestic, regional and international developments. we stress here the necessity of compliance with regulations, standards and instructions related to anti - money laundering ; the implementation of policies to monitor operations ; and reporting money laundering activities to th

. it will also provide the basis for judicious policy formulations even after the establishment of the monetary union for the region. i therefore urge you all, to actively engage in workshop discussions to fully understand these matters, come to useful conclusions and make your deliberations fruitful. dear participants i hope that by the end of the workshop you will have achieved at least the following two objectives : 1. sufficient statistical insight to effectively address burgeoning data - related issues and concerns, and be in a position to produce intended statistical forms and table, and ; 2. identification of some future work based on mutual cooperation. i thank you all for your attention and wish all a productive and rewarding workshop.