Government response to fish exporters' requests

SANA'A, Mar. 08 (Saba) - The government has responded to the
requests of Yemeni fish exporters calling on it to intervene and
talk to Saudi authorities regarding recent Saudi tough measures over
the export of Yemeni fresh fish into the kingdom.

After the issue was raised by the Economic Studies Center and the
Cooperative Union Fish, the Ministry of Industry and Trade sent a
letter to Saudi deputy minister of Commerce and Industry requesting
him to ask competent authorities in his country to allow Yemeni
fresh fish to be exported as in the past.

In the letter, the ministry suggested that the matter would be on
the agenda of the Yemeni-Saudi Technical and Trade Committee which
will meet mid April.

On Saturday, the ministry of Industry and Trade and the Cooperative
Fish Union held a meeting to discuss the complaints of the Yemeni
fish exporters.

Last week, Saudi Arabia was placing tough conditions for exporting
Yemeni fish into the kingdom when the Saudi authorities at the
Haradh crossing gave Yemeni fish exporters a month as a deadline to
meet new requirements including that exporters of fish from Yemen
into Saudi Arabia must be Saudi nationals.

Among the conditions, described by Yemeni fish exporters as the
toughest, is that Yemeni exporters of fish to the kingdom ought to
get commercial records from the Industry and Trade Ministry and they
also ought to have bank accounts and packing posts.

Yemeni exporters complain they always are annoyed by the Saudi
custom authorities and have urged the government to intervene to
resolve their problems with the Saudi authorities.