“This Government looks forward to Mrs Harris, who is the officially designated person to represent the Federation in its newly elected position, thus providing support to the Chair of the CFATF, a position which is now held by Costa Rica," he commented.

Douglas added that St Kitts & Nevis has continued to strengthen its relationship with the CFATF, which was first forged in 1998, when there was a complete overhaul of the jurisdiction's financial services sector.

I. Fidela Clarke, Director General/Regulator of the St. Kitts Financial Services Regulatory Department, revealed on Wednesday that the election of Mrs. Harris had taken place in Costa Rica on 23rd November, 2007.

“The CFATF is an organisation of thirty states of the Caribbean Basin," she announced, continuing: "Its main objective is to achieve effective implementation of and compliance with the Financial Action Task Force’s forty plus nine recommendations to prevent and control money laundering and to combat the financing of terrorism."

She noted that the organisation was also instrumental in ensuring that St. Kitts & Nevis was removed from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s 'blacklist', also known as the Non-Co-operative Countries and Territories List, in June 2002.

The Federation will undergo its second Mutual Evaluation by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force in 2008.