Yemen, Russia hold official consultative council talks

SANA'A, Oct 16 (Saba) - Yemen and Russia Consultative Councils are
holding official talks in Sana'a with a focus on means to boost
bilateral relations in various fields.

The two countries signed in 2002 the declaration for principles of
friendly relations and comprehensive cooperation.

Chairman of the Yemeni Shoura council Abdul Aziz Abdul Ghani
reviewed the constitutional role the Shoura council exercises,
pointing out that the council accomplishes its responsibilities
under planned constitutional amendments due in April and under which
the parliamentary system in Yemen would be converted into a two
houses one.

Abdul Ghani said Yemen seeks through constitutional amendments to
promote decentralization through expanding the power of provincial
government.

He said the first step for this was the elections of governors.

Abdul Ghani also reviewed strides Yemen has made towards
democracy, saying Yemen has held several parliamentary elections
and its first presidential and local elections.

He affirmed Yemen exercises a real democracy relying on multiparty
participation and peaceful succession of power.

Yemen is keen on preserving human rights and empowering women, Abdul
Ghani added.

For his part, the Russian Upper House Chairman Sergei Mironov hailed
political and democratic improvements in Yemen.


Mironov said cooperation between Yemen and Russia, particularly
after the president Ali Abdullah Saleh's last visit to Russia, has
been expanded.

He stressed the importance of expanding economic and trade
cooperation between the countries, saying the trade volume between
them should increase from the current amount of $ 187 million.

He said trade cooperation between Yemen and Russia doesn't match
with their developed political relations, pointing out that there is
still new means to expand this cooperation through establishing
contact between the two countries governorates.

Mironov invited Yemen to take part in the First Arab Expo Business
Forum " to be held in Moscow and that is deemed the fifth
international exhibition in terms of distance and potentials.

Mironov hopes the Yemeni side, through participation, could
establish broad trade relations with its Russian counterpart.

He touched upon cooperation between Yemen and Russia in the field of
higher education, affirming Russia's readiness to increase the
number of scholarships provided for Yemeni students.

He also reviewed the latest developments in the Caucasus region,
defending Russia's stance toward the crisis which took place there
in September. He renewed his country call for multi-pole system and
the importance of international making decision based on the UN and
the international law.