ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is “one step away” from exiting the Financial Action Task Force’s “grey list” after the global watchdog said an on-site visit could lead to the South Asian nation’s removal, the state minister for foreign affairs said on Saturday. Pakistan has been on FATF’s “grey list” since 2018, a list featuring countries under increased monitoring due to inadequate controls over money laundering and terrorism financing, which made foreign firms more cautious about investing in the country. The financial crime watchdog, set up by the Group of Seven industrial powers to protect the global financial system, kept the country on the list on Friday, but said that Pakistan had substantially completed its two action plans, which covered 34 items. The monitoring group said that an on-site visit was warranted to verify that reforms had begun and were being sustained, and that the necessary political commitment was in place to sustain future improvements. Once it successfully passes the onsite visit, FATF said the country will be removed from the list. “The successful completion of the action plans and its formal endorsement by FATF means that Pakistan has come to one step away from exiting from the grey list,” State Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, who chairs Pakistan’s National FATF Coordination Committee, told a news conference in Islamabad. “The on-site visit is a procedural requirement and it marks the beginning of the end-process that will eventually culminate in the exit of Pakistan from FATF’s grey list.” Khar said that Islamabad and FATF are still working on scheduling the visit, and aim to conclude the entire process before the monitoring group’s next plenary in October. Getting off the grey list is expected to further the investment climate in Pakistan. “I am confident that this good news from FATF will restore confidence in our economy, will give it a much-needed boost and would improve the investment climate,” Khar said.