U.S. Secretary of Treasury Jacob Lew expressed confidence of his country in the close partnership with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the fields of finance and economic cooperation in addition to the joint efforts between the two friendly countries to combat terrorism and means of its financing and enhance the international efforts to face it. In a joint press conference with the Minister of Finance Dr. Ibrahim Al-Assaf, Lew said he was honored to have a meeting with the Vice Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and discuss with him the solid and strategic relations between the Kingdom and the United States. We also discussed with Saudi officials the tax law against U.S. citizens outside the U.S., he said, adding that talks with Saudi officials have also dealt with the situation in Iraq and the need of Iraqis to drift differences aside. He explained that the Kingdom was among the U.S. partners in combating the financing of terrorism, confirming the U.S. commitment to work with Saudi Arabia to combat this phenomenon, enhance transparency and improve the fight against money laundering. He told reporters that the Kingdom is playing a great role in the world economy in its capacity as the GCC largest country and the world's biggest oil producer. He said 'we discussed the Kingdom's efforts to diversify its economy', noting that the U.S. has imported, over the last 25 years, more items from Saudi Arabia than other GCC states. The meetings also dealt with coordinating the efforts in the sake of enhancing stability in the Middle East and North Africa, face the challenges and achieve the economic stability, he said lauding Saudi Arabia's support for Arab countries who are passing transitional phases. Lew said there is much to do to avert the threats in the offing, which he said are closely monitored by both sides, noting that the strategic cooperation between the two countries have reached a level where the two sides share information. He expressed belief that today's dialogue has reflected the deep relations with the colleagues in the two ministries of interior and finance, hoping to continue this dialogue. He said the responsibility we are shouldering necessitates that we work together to enact a law to combat whatever might undermine the world's security and our interest in the national security. For his part, Dr. Al-Assaf said the Kingdom has taken strong unprecedent measures to curb and prevent the financing of terrorism. For his part, the Governor of SAMA said the Kingdom's investment policy is unchangeable.
