BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (14th November 2022) Canada, in collaboration with the United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Regional Security System Asset Recovery Unit
(RSS ARU) and the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis, is supporting the delivery of a national
workshop to combat trade-based money laundering (TBML).
The week long training aims to raise awareness of the public security threats stemming from
TBML, and strengthen the capacities of local law enforcement and prosecutorial authorities to
detect, investigate, and prosecute money laundering through trade more effectively. Nineteen law
enforcement and criminal justice officials are participating in the workshop which commenced
today, November 14th, in Basseterre.
The workshop in St. Kitts and Nevis is part of the Combatting Trade-Based Money Laundering
and Cash Smuggling in Latin America and the Caribbean Project, a CAD$2.7 million Canada-
funded initiative implemented by the UNODC Global Programme against Money Laundering. The
project, launched in 2018, reaches 13 beneficiary countries in the Caribbean and Central America,
including Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, El Salvador, Grenada,
Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad and
Tobago.
Political Counsellor at the High Commission of Canada in Barbados, Miriam van Nie noted
“Canada is proud to support the delivery of this critical workshop in collaboration with UNODC,
RSS ARU and the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis. We appreciate the tangible results achieved
in pursuit of our shared goal of reducing transnational organized crime, including TBML, and
commend workshop participants and implementing partners for their ongoing efforts to make our
hemisphere safer for all.”
The five-year project is expected to increase the capacity of customs officials and law
enforcement agencies to prevent, detect, investigate and contribute to the prosecution of
customs/revenue fraud, trade-based money laundering, and money-laundering via free-trade
zones across the Caribbean and Latin America. The initiative further reflects a mutual
commitment by partners – Canada, St. Kitts and Nevis, the Regional Security System and
UNODC – to enhance security and cooperation throughout in the region.
