Italy hosts meeting to combat Islamic State group financing

ROME (AP) – Rome has hosted a first meeting to combat the Islamic State group’s funding and other financial resources.

The two-day meeting was co-chaired by the United States, Saudi Arabia and Italy. It ended Friday with an action plan that the Italian foreign ministry said aimed to “to drain the sources of income, capacity to transfer funds and, more in general, the economic stability” of the group.

A U.S. Treasury Department statement said key steps include cracking down on unregulated money remitters and countering the Islamic State group’s exploitation of cash, oil, cultural property and other resources.

The Islamic State group has taken control of parts of Syria and Iraq, and some extremists based in other countries are affiliated or sympathetic to it.