RIYADH // The United States and the GCC have signed an agreement to work more closely to choke off funding for extremist groups and prosecute donors.
The memorandum of understanding was signed during talks between Donald Trump and Gulf leaders in Riyadh on Sunday, on the final day of the US president’s visit to Saudi Arabia.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, led the UAE delegation to the talks.
The document has not yet been made public, but White House adviser Dina Powell said she hoped the agreement would be the “farthest reaching commitment to not finance terrorist organisations” and that it would go beyond dismantling networks to prosecuting those involved.
“The unique piece of it is that every single one of them are signatories on how they’re responsible and will actually prosecute the financing of terrorism, including individuals,” she said.
The agreement also provides for the setting up of centre to combat terrorism funding, the state Saudi Press Agency reported.
The Gulf has been a key source of private funding for groups such as Al Qaeda and ISIL. Although Saudi Arabia and the UAE have made significant strides in countering terrorist financial networks, with assistance from the US, other GCC members have not.
The US treasury department has in the past singled out Qatar and Kuwait as remaining “permissive” environments, with concerns about the lack of legal action against violators.
Expanding his contacts with GCC leaders, Mr Trump on Sunday held talks with the rulers of Qatar and Bahrain ahead of the formal summit, and later also met the emir of Kuwit. He had already met the Saudi deputy crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, in Washington in March and was visited at the White House by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed last week, just days before his Saudi trip.
Sheikh Mohammed said the US-GCC summit clearly reflected the importance of its members states in dealing with regional issues in cooperation with global allies, particularly the US.
The summit also underlined the central position the Gulf region holds in US policy and Washington’s keenness to hear the views of GCC leaders on the overall situation in the Middle East and the world, he said.
Given the situation in Middle East, Sheikh Mohammed said, the summit was an important opportunity to exchange views with Mr Trump on issues such as the security of the Arab Gulf, terrorism and the complicated crises in Syria, Yemen, Libya, Iraq and Lebanon, Iran’s interventions in the region, as well as the stalled peace process between the Palestinians and Israel.
He said the UAE was one of the pillars of the GCC-US dialogue thanks to its strong relations with the United States and the respect and esteem it enjoyed both in the US and internationally.
President Trump touched on US cooperation with the UAE in his address later in the day at the Arab Islamic American Summit, giving the example of the centre the two countries have set up to counter radicalisation online.
tkhan@thenational.ae
* With reporting from WAM
