The Foreign Affairs Committee today publishes the Government’s
response to its report, Countries at
Crossroads: UK Engagement in Central Asia.
The Committee’s report called for the Government to engage
consistently and at a high level with Central Asian countries,
while ensuring that UK financial services and the City of London
could not continue to be used to shelter illicit finance from the
region.
In its response, the Government agrees with the Committee’s
recommendation to hold a diplomatic meeting in 2024 between the
UK and the “Central Asia 5”: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and says it is exploring the best
format for a meeting.
The Government also agrees with the Committee on the value of
senior Ministerial engagements with the region.
It cites visits conducted since the Committee launched its
inquiry, including: the then-Foreign Secretary James Cleverly’s
visit to Kazakhstan in March 2023, the first visit by a British
Foreign Secretary in two decades, as well as visits by the
Minister for Europe and Minister for Industry and
Economic Security . There have also been a number of firsts in terms of
bilateral visits from senior ministers visiting the UK from the
region.
However, it does not spell out its plans for Ministerial
engagements and does not pledge to deliver a visit to Central
Asia by the Prime Minister or a Secretary of State, as the
Committee had recommended.
Discussing illicit finance, the Government response states that
the proceeds of corruption “are not welcome in the UK”. The
Committee’s report criticised the Government for under-enforcing
prosecutions for financial crime, which it said helped to
facilitate kleptocratic autocracies in Central Asia.
Today’s response says that the Government is providing £400m to
fund economic crime enforcement over the next three years,
including an additional 475 financial crime investigators and an
expansion of the National Crime Agency’s Combatting Kleptocracy
Cell.
However, the Government does not respond to the Committee’s
recommendation to close off opportunities for Russian sanctions
evasion in the City of London, a key form of illicit finance
coming from Central Asia.
Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, , said:
“It is promising that the Government has agreed to pursue a
“Central Asia 5 + UK” meeting in 2024. Central Asia lies along a
fault line between two of the most significant disruptors of the
international world order: Russia and China.
“Diplomatic engagement in the region is vital and we are pleased
to see that the Government is finally treating Central Asia with
the seriousness it deserves.
“It is encouraging that the Government is putting fresh funds
into the National Crime Agency and creating new posts. But it
remains to be seen whether these actions will be enough to stem
the flow of illicit finance from Central Asia through the City of
London.
“There remains an enormous mismatch between the resources of
state investigators and those they investigate. Unless the
Government steps up UK institutions will continue to enable money
and reputation laundering for kleptocrats. We are asking for the
Government’s actions to be reviewed in a year or two, to judge if
it has made progress.
“When it comes to corruption, it’s the people of Central Asia who
suffer the most. It’s not acceptable to let Central Asian money
enter the UK without question. In the face of Russia’s ongoing
attempts to exert influence through the region, the UK needs to
be a more visible player.”
