YEMEN LOOKS FORWARD TO SCHEDULING OF INTERNATIONAL AID

SANA’A, Feb. 23 (Saba)- A Yemeni official has said the Riyadh conference on aid to Yemen, scheduled to be held on February 27 with participation by donors, would discuss four documents, to be presented by the Yemeni government.

‘’The documents deal with the use of the foreign aid that was pledged by the London conference, the Yemeni government's view on absorbing workers in the Gulf market and the national agenda of reforms, including the subsequent phase between 2011 and 2015’’, Nabil Shayban, director general of international cooperation in Planning and International Cooperation Ministry said in a statement to London-based newspaper Al-Hayat.

‘’The documents also deal with the local economic developments, the joint analysis of the challenges that face Yemen and ways to direct the international aid to confront these challenges’’, Shayban added.

The Yemeni official made it clear that one of the documents, which will be discussed, deals with the fourth economic development plan for the period 2011-2015 and the initial investments that are necessary for financing that plan.

‘’The conferees will make preparations for the meeting of the friends of Yemen, which the Yemeni Government proposed to hold in Berlin, Germany’’, he added.

Shayban noted that the expectations about the Riyadh conference are great, especially with regard to scheduling the international aid to fund the investment programme in Yemen, agreement on the flow of the aid and a commitment by the donors to comply with an annual timetable, ‘’so that the government may be able to allocate the funds effectively’’.

Shayban hoped that the Riyadh conference will endorse a mechanism of coordination and consultation between the Yemeni Government and the donors and between the donors themselves, including the Gulf donors, through a regular dialogue.

He also hoped that the technical and financial aid will be coordinated in a more streamlined way in order to consolidate economic development in Yemen.

Elsewhere, the preparatory committee for the Yemeni-Saudi Coordination Council will begin to hold meetings in Riyadh on Tuesday.

The committee would be co-chaired by Hisham Sharaf, deputy Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Ministry and Mohammad Bin Ibrahim al-Hudaithi, adviser at the Saudi Royal Court.

Sharaf said that the preparatory committee will prepare all the documents and agreements that will be signed at the meeting of the higher coordination council on February 27.

He noted that the meeting will be co-chaired by Prime Minister Ali Mohammad Mujawar and Saudi Crown Prince, deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defence and Aviation Prince Sultan Bin Abdal-Aziz.

Sharaf expected six documents and funding agreements, as part of the Saudi grant to Yemen that was pledged in the past, to be signed at the end of these meetings.

He explained that the documents and agreements deal with roads, electricity, education and vocational training.

The conferees will also discuss cooperation in health matters, electrical link between the two countries, facilitation of the flow of exports, and encouraging joint investments, especially the Saudi capital in Yemen, which enjoys special care and interest.

YA