Yemen, Germany sign grant agreements amounting to EUR 56 million

SANA'A, Nov. 09 (Saba)- A diplomatic source said that Yemen and Germany signed on Sunday six grant agreements on German support for programs in the water and education sectors amounting to EUR 56.2 million.

In its press release, the German Embassy in Sana'a said that Planning and
International Cooperation Minister Abdul-Karim al-Arhabi and KfW Group's Senior Vice
President for MENA and Europe Ms. Doris Koehn signed the grant agreements in the
presence of the German Ambassador Mr. Michael Klor-Berchtold.

"In the water sector, three supplemental financing agreements were concluded for
therehabilitation and improvement of water and sanitation systems in provincial
towns (EUR 28.2 million), and one supplemental financing agreement was concluded for
the extension of the sewerage project in Aden (EUR 2.45 million). All projects are
aiming at the improvement of the health of the population in the respective
regions", said the embassy.

In the education sector, two financing agreements were concluded, one for the
Secondary Education Development and Girls' Access Program (EUR 8.0 million) and the
other one for the Social Fund for Development (EUR 17.5 million). Both programs aim
at improving access to and quality of education, with a particularfocus on girls in
rural areas.

Germany is one of the major donor countries in the areas of water and sanitation as
well as education. KfW Entwicklungsbank, the German Development Bank responsible for
German Financial Cooperation on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic
Cooperation and Development, is engaged in Yemen for almost 40 years and has since
then committed funds amounting to about EUR 550 million.