UAE and US strengthen cooperation in the field of combating money laundering and terrorist financing

A UAE delegation visited Washington, DC and met with officials from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, including representatives from the Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). During the visit, officials discussed close cooperation between the UAE and US in the field of countering money laundering, terrorist financing, and WMD proliferation financing.
 
The UAE delegation highlighted the most prominent developments in the UAE’s national agenda to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as the country’s efforts to enhance the effectiveness of these controls in cooperation with international partners. During the visit, members of the UAE delegation discussed other strategic initiatives, including efforts to mitigate risks associated with virtual assets, illegal wildlife trafficking, and refining the UAE’s proliferation financing risk assessment that the country commenced earlier this year.
 
The delegation highlighted UAE efforts in public private partnership and recent developments, which include progress on the legal framework for sharing information between the public and private sectors to enhance the effectiveness of the AML/CFT regime. 
 
In this regard, His Excellency Hamid Al Zaabi, Director General of the Executive Office to Combat Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, said: “The United States of America is one of the UAE's main strategic partners in combating money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing. This field, where crimes are complex and transcontinental in nature, requires a high level of global coordination and cooperation with international counterparts.”
 
Paul Ahern, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes (TFFC), said: “We welcomed the Executive Office of AML/CFT to Treasury to continue our ongoing collaboration and technical engagement.”