30/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - On the occasion of the extraordinary meeting of the International Financial Action Task Force on money laundering (FATF), to end in Washington on Wednesday, the US Secretary of State for the Treasury, Paul O'Neill, urged the 29 member countries of the Group to draw up, by February, the criteria for combating terrorist funding as well as an action programme for each nation of the world. Meeting at the request of the G7, FATF was to prepare immediate initiatives to trace funds earmarked for terrorism and to block such funds, mainly in the context of the counter-measures intended to combat terrorist funding, it was stated in a press release. An independent international body under the umbrella of the OECD, FATF currently groups 20 countries and territories on its "black list" of uncooperative countries with regards money laundering, against which the FATF members have established sanctions or "counter measures" (see EUROPE of 12 September).