The UAE prioritizes regional partnerships in its foreign policy. The UAE’s Financial Intelligence Unit and Oman’s National Center for Financial Information signed a memorandum of understanding on exchanging information related to money laundering and financial terrorism. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and the Muscat Stock Exchange also inked a deal on the double listing of stocks between them.
The UAE and Oman also signed a $3 billion deal to build a railway connecting the two countries. The Emirates and Oman will each own 50% of the project. The train will operate at a speed of 200 kmh (125 mph).
The Emirates has recently inked free trade agreements with Israel, India, and Indonesia to this end.
The money laundering memorandum also represents the UAE’s continued efforts to clean up its bad reputation in this regard. In August, the country’s central bank announced a series of new measures aimed at exposing people engaging in money laundering as well as financing terrorism and crime. The UAE has been implicated in a variety of sanctions busting and money laundering controversies in recent years.