WASHINGTON - United States Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin met with Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Thursday (Apr 20) and welcomed Singapore's continued cooperation on combating illicit finance and to keep North Korea from abusing financial systems.

A readout from a US Treasury spokesman said Mr Mnuchin highlighted Singapore hosting the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) meetings next year and said he looks forward to working with Mr Tharman.

During the meeting, the two leaders also underscored the long history of cooperation between the United States and Singapore, the spokesman added.

Mr Tharman, who is also Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies, is visiting Washington DC from April 18 to 23, where he will meet top US officials and the heads of the IMF, World Bank and other multilateral development institutions.