Finance and National Economy Minister Shaikh Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa yesterday held a telephone call with US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.
The two sides discussed the US announcement of the launch of Operation Economic Outcast, and reviewed the close and longstanding partnership between the kingdom and the US in confronting threats to regional security and international trade, including co-ordinated efforts to counter illicit finance and to disrupt the funding of destabilising activity.
The US Secretary of the Treasury expressed appreciation for the role Bahrain is expected to have in this regard.
The minister reaffirmed Bahrain’s position that peace and stability in the Middle East, and the security of the sea lanes on which global energy and trade depend, are of paramount importance. The Strait of Hormuz must not be used as an instrument of economic pressure or extortion. Attacks on commercial shipping raise costs for producers and consumers alike and place the stability of international markets at risk.
The minister underlined the importance of denying resources to those who attack the region’s people and infrastructure, including through action against sanctions-evasion networks, illicit revenues and the financing of armed militias and terrorist groups, and of holding those responsible to account.
Shaikh Salman also reaffirmed Bahrain’s support for international efforts to address the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, and stressed the importance of denying those programmes the revenues on which they depend.
The minister reiterated Bahrain’s continued efforts to work with its GCC partners, the US and the wider international community, in accordance with international law and standards on anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism, to protect the integrity of the international financial system.
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