The United States and Qatar will boost cooperation to curb terrorism financing, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin said during his visit to Doha on Monday.
“We agreed to enhance our cooperation to counter the financing of terrorism in key areas of mutual concern,” Mr. Mnuchin said. “We affirm that the United States and Qatar will significantly increase our cooperation on these issues to ensure that Qatar is a hostile environment for terrorist financing.”
The secretary noted that the two countries would seek to substantially increase the sharing of information on terrorist financiers in the region, place greater emphasis on charitable and money service business sectors in Qatar to prevent terrorists from using it, and develop a Qatari domestic designations regime in line with international standards.
Qatar’s Minister of Finance Ali Shareef al-Emadi called talks with Mr. Mnuchin “highly productive.”
“We agreed to further our high level of joint cooperation to counter terror financing in key areas of our mutual concern. Qatar is working closely with the United States to enforce financial sanctions against ISIS, AQAP and other terrorist groups,” he said.
“This is a clear indicator of our long-standing political commitment to combatting money laundering and terror financing,” the minister added.
In June, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt and a number of other countries cut off diplomatic relations with Qatar citing Doha’s alleged support for terrorism.
Bahrain Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa said on Monday the Gulf Cooperation Council should freeze Qatar’s membership in the block until Doha accepts the demands of other members, including shutting down news network Al-Jazeera and severing ties with such groups as the Muslim Brotherhood and Hezbollah.