The agreements with the UAE are part of the Swedish Government’s efforts to increase pressure on Swedish criminals, regardless of where in the world they are. One important tool involves strengthening the judicial cooperation with third countries to combat crime. 

“We are very pleased with this joint effort together with the UAE. The agreements will provide our countries’ law enforcement and judicial authorities with sharper tools to combat organised crime. It will be possible to locate, arrest and prosecute more criminals for their serious crimes. We look forward to strengthening our co-operation with the UAE based on these agreements”, says Minister for Justice Gunnar Strömmer.

Swedish law enforcement and judicial authorities are already working with their counterparts in the UAE to prevent, combat and prosecute crime. These new agreements concern mutual legal assistance in criminal matters and extradition. The agreements expected to facilitate the existing cooperation and strengthen initiatives to extradite criminals with ties to Sweden. As a result, an increasing number of criminals can be tried in court or serve a sentence. 

“The UAE works in close coordination with international partners in the pursuit of crime, financial crime and to protect the integrity of the global financial system, thereby contributing to making the world a safer place. We are therefore pleased to sign these two agreements with Sweden in judicial and legal fields, which will further improve the effectiveness of our cooperation and facilitate extradition whilst ensuring essential safeguards are maintained in line with the rule of law. The signing highlights the importance of continuing joint efforts, and exchanging expertise in areas such as money laundering, terrorism financing, and organized crime. The UAE now has mutual legal assistance agreements in place with 48 countries around the world. Our intention is to continue to sign more. Both countries are keen to cooperate in order to combat criminal activities ensuring the rule of law internationally”, says the UAE Minister of Justice, His Excellency Abdullah Sultan bin Awwad Al Nuaimi.

The agreements were signed in Abu Dhabi, UAE, where the Swedish Government was represented by the Minister for Justice Gunnar Strömmer and the UAE was represented by His Excellency Abdullah bin Sultan bin Awad Al Nuaimi, the Minister of Justice.