IFAD TO FINANCE $70MLN PROJECTS IN YEMEN

SANA'A, March 09 (Saba) - International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) said on Tuesday that it is to begin soon the implantation of economic opportunities program and activating fish resources management at a cost of $ 70 million.

In a statement to the state-run 26Sep.net, the IFAD representative in Yemen Fathia Bahran announced that the economic opportunities program is to be kicked off next June.

The program, which targets eight governorates, will costs $40 million financing by IFAD, the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and EU, Bahran said.

It aims at improving coffee production, enlarging its cultivation areas and creating new marketing mechanisms to export coffee to foreign markets that would improve the national income and increase the economic revenues.

She pointed out that IFAD is now at the designing phase for the fish project that concentrated on supporting the fish resources management, which is amounting to $30 million financed by IFAD and other donors.

The project aims at building fishermen abilities, equipping them with boats, qualifying them in fishing field and improving the fishing products' quality to be exported to abroad markets in addition to developing the infrastructures in fishery fields.

MB/AF