KARACHI: Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have agreed to strengthen their cooperation in policing and anti-terror financing, the Pakistani interior ministry said on Friday.

The statement followed a meeting between Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and his Emirati counterpart Lt. Gen. Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al-Nahyan on the sidelines of the World Governments Summit 2026 in Dubai.

Pakistan and the UAE share close defense, economic, diplomatic and people-to-people relations. The Gulf country is Pakistan’s third-largest trading partner after China and the US, and home to more than 1.5 million Pakistani expatriates.

During their meeting, the Pakistani and the Emirati interior ministers agreed to increase bilateral cooperation in areas of mutual interest, according to the Pakistani interior ministry.

“Exchange programs will prove beneficial in making practical use of the UAE’s policing system,” the ministry said, citing the two interior ministers.

“A decision was made to formulate a joint strategy to prevent online terrorism and terrorism financing.”

The development comes days after Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau (NAB) said it was in talks with counterparts in the UAE to curb money laundering and illegal offshore asset holdings through mutual legal assistance.

NAB’s move is part of Pakistan’s broader efforts to curb the flow of ill-gotten money outside the country by reaching such agreements with foreign governments.

“A team of NAB officials will travel to Dubai in the coming weeks to sign an MoU with the UAE Accountability Authority (UAEAA) for joint cooperation against corruption,” NAB’s Director General (Operations) Amjad Majeed Aulakh said, adding that both sides have already held several rounds of talks to finalize the agreement.

Pakistan, which for years remained on the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) list of countries with vulnerable financial systems, is also trying to strengthen its capacity to handle sophisticated financial crimes through artificial intelligence-assisted tools, blockchain analysis and digital forensics, the official said.