IFAD allocates $35 mln for fisheries projects in Yemen

SANA'A, March 10 (Saba) - The
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has allocated a grant of $ 35
million
to implement projects in field of fisheries in Yemen.

This came in the memorandum of understanding signed here on Wednesday by the
Minister of Fisheries Mohamed Shamlan and the Yemen Portfolio Manager at the IFAD
Omer Zafar.
TThe IFAD's grant aimed to improve the fishermen conditions and create job
opportunities for the poor fishermen in the fishermen societies as well as
assisting fishermen
to apply the international conditions relating to the fish quality.
Following the signing, Shamlan stressed the importance of projects to be
implemented within the grant program to complete the infrastructure of the fish
sector along the
coastline.
The most important of those projects are the establishment of breakwaters and
landing centers and public sale squares and fish storage facilities and other vital
projects
needed to the development of fish production, Shamlan added.
He valued the IFAD's steady support to develop the fisheries sector and to enhance
its role in ensuring the food security and supporting the national economy.
Furthermore, Shamlan affirmed his ministry's keenness to facilitate the procedures
of implementation of those projects included in the grant, so as to improve the
economic
conditions of the small-scale fishermen and create job opportunities in the coastal
provinces.
For her part, the IFAD's reprehensive in Yemen Fathia Bahran said that recent
studies conducted by IFAD revealed a decline in numbers of some fish species of
economic value,
a matter which requires implanting programs and plans to preserve those species.
BA