JEDDAH, 6 March — US Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill held talks here yesterday with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd and top Saudi officials on ways of strengthening economic and financial cooperation.
The American official met with Interior Minister Prince Naif and discussed issues of mutual concern. The talks were attended by Prince Muhammad ibn Naif, assistant interior minister for security affairs, and Finance and National Economy Minister Dr. Ibrahim Al-Assaf.
O’Neill held a separate meeting with his Saudi counterpart and discussed prospects of enhancing bilateral cooperation and ways to boost global economic growth. The meeting was attended by Hamad Al-Sayyari, governor of Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), and other officials.
O’Neill has already visited Bahrain and Kuwait, focusing on ways to crack down on the sources of funding terrorism, and was to travel to the United Arab Emirates tomorrow.
During his meetings with senior Saudi officials over three days, O’Neill is also expected to discuss steps to “monitor and eliminate” the funding of terrorism, diplomats said. He would review ways to control remittances made outside the official banking system and measures taken by Riyadh against money laundering and funding terrorism, they said.
The Finance Ministry said O’Neil and Assaf will attend the annual meeting of the US-Saudi Joint Economic Cooperation Committee, set up in 1975.
