The United States and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to work toward greater civil and national security space cooperation after officials from the two countries met in Washington this week, the U.S. State Department said on Friday, March 20, according to Reuters.

The officials reviewed "a broad list of potential areas of space cooperation," department spokesman Jeff Rathke said in a statement.

"They agreed on developing a strategic approach that would focus on building mutual confidence and understanding of space systems on which both countries rely for economic, environmental, security and social well-being," Rathke said.

Rathke said the talks focused on issues including space policy and regulatory developments, space security, space science cooperation, weather monitoring and the use of satellite-based applications.