MANILA, Aug. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- The European Commission (EC) and the Philippines have signed a 73-million peso (1.33-million US dollars) financing agreement to assist with the country's anti-money laundering drive, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said Wednesday.

    Before departing for Australia on an official visit, Romulo said at a press briefing that the aid project seeks to assist the Philippines in the implementation of the United Nations Security Council resolution on the fight against terrorism and combating international crime.

    "This paved the way for an even more through and comprehensive system to be established in the Philippines to combat money-laundering, reinforcing our commitment on this," Romulo said.

    According to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), total cost of the project is estimated at 1.68 million Euros, of which the EC contribution is 961,000 Euros. The Philippines will providea counterpart funding of 107,000 Euros.

    The project aims at contributing to the efforts of the Philippine government to prevent and minimize money laundering by strengthening the institutional capacity of the central bank and the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), the DFA said in a statement.

    It also intends to enhance the cooperation among the supervising authorities, financial institutions, and judicial and law enforcement agencies with the AMLC in the fulfillment of theirfunctions.

    The project will also increase capacity of 450 staff members from the supervising authorities, covered institutions, judicial and law enforcement agencies, and civil society through training in anti-money laundering rules and procedures and basic financial investigation methodology, the statement added.

    "This agreement comes at a time when the international community has acknowledged the recent strides made by the Philippines in its anti-money laundering endeavors," Romulo said.

    In 2003, the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force included the Philippines in its list of Non-Cooperative Countries and Territories in money laundering, but de-listed the country in 2005for undertaking measures to address the issue. Enditem