国际英语新闻:Cuba, U.S. hold talks on collaboration against money laundering

HAVANA, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Representatives of Cuba and the United States met in Washington to discuss on the prevention and the fight against money laundering, Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday.

According to a release, the talks analyzed the "trends of this scourge at regional level, the main experiences in the struggle against money laundering and the next steps to be taken."

"The Cuban delegation emphasized the need to increase the cooperation between the authorities of the two countries to guarantee the effective confrontation against this form of crime," said the release.

Havana and Washington also agreed that "it is necessary to act with determination against such events and the offenders, without allowing impunity."

They also agreed to continue holding technical meetings on the subject in the future and coordinate actions to effectively fight against money laundering.

This was the second meeting on money laundering between Cuban and American experts.

Both nations addressed this crime for the first time in Havana in May 2016, where they agreed to cooperate and set up bilateral instruments to fight it.

So far this year, both countries have held dialogues on cyber-security, terrorism, criminal matters and soil erosion.

These collaborations have happened despite bilateral ties having waned since President Donald Trump took office in January 2017 and vowed to roll back the progress seen under his predecessor.