Last Page - Issue 46 - Yemen Times

46 - Nov 13 thru Nov 19 2000, Vol X

Towards Unrestricted Tourism Services Trade

The ministry of Culture and Tourism hosted lately a seminar on ways of eliminating restrictions on tourism services. The seminar discussed various working papers on the subject. One of the papers was presented by Mr Fadhl Faisal from the ministry of trade and supplies, member of trade and services committee in which he had given an overview of the goals of the general agreement on services trade, such as work on expanding services trade and gradual lift of restrictions as a means of enhancing economic growth. He cited the law of investment no.22 of 1991 and how consistent it was with the general agreement on services trade. It showed the positive effects of lifting restrictions on tourism services to help flourish tourism industry in Yemen, like archaeological, desert, beach and diving aspects of tourism,…etc. Foreign investors should be encouraged to invest in this sector. Some other positive effects will also be witnessed like allowing tourist companies and agencies to be established, building hotels and starting transportation companies. All of that will eventually increase the efficiency of tourism services which will definitely attract larger numbers of tourists and create new job opportunities. Foreign companies investing in this field will use domestic labor for being cheaper, meaning that domestic labor will acquire the experience of those foreign companies.
The paper reviewed all tourist projects licensed since March 1992 till September 2000. The paper discussed financial facilities awarded to all those projects, exemption from taxes on profits for seven years starting from the date of production or practicing the particular activity and exemption from taxes on profits for three years starting at the end of the first seven years of exemption if no profits were made.
The paper presented by Abduljabbar Alsulwi, general manager of tourism growth and investment pointed at the present situation of services in tourism industry in Yemen, the consequences of lifting all restrictions imposed on tourism services, lifting all restrictions on tourism services within the frame of Arab free trade zone and the strategic means to achieve an appropriate position in this field.
The paper presented by Mohammed Mohammed Mutahar, vice-chairman of the state organization for tourism, stressed the main economic principle followed by the whole world at the beginning of the third millennium, i.e. the unrestricted trade and free market.

The paper presented by the ministry of transportation discussed the effects of the 'GATT' on activities of transportation, like international competition, technology transfer and training, encouraging Arab bilateral and regional cooperation.
The paper also discussed recommendations for developing sea and air transport.
The paper, presented by Yahya Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, chief of the Yemeni society for tourism and travel agencies, tackled means of importing services according to the 'GATT' and the effects of applying that agreement. The paper showed the advantages of removing restrictions on this industry as stipulated in the 'GATT'.

The advantages are:
- making use of the experience that foreign companies and agencies have,
- improving services quality of local agencies,
- making use of advanced supplies brought by those foreign companies.
Many other papers were also presented by Yemenia, the general union of trade and industry chambers and others.

German Ud Player, Roman Bunka:
“I Bought a Turkish Ud 28 Years Ago As a Souvenir”

Roman Bunka is a German Ud player that was first encountered with Ud in 1972 during a visit to Turkey. Its nice shape lured him to bring one back to Germany just as a souvenir. There it was kept untouched until he got more interested in Arab music after he chanced to listen to a musical masterpiece by Ryadh Al-Sombati, an Egyptian Composer, on the radio in 1978. Then he decided to encounter with Arab music and singers, particularly the most famous Arab singer, Um Kolthoum. “At that time nobody in Europe knew about Ud. There was no education, no schools, no teachers for this instrument. It was also difficult to get it in records. So I had to go to an Arab country to find more about Arab music, in general and about Ud in particular. I had a chance to go to Cairo in 1984 to play jazz with a guest group there. At the same time I was very fascinated by Arab music and I wanted to know more about it. I bought another Ud. I learnt how to tune it and I knew the strings but still I played a lot of guitar and recorded with some famous singers in Egypt who were looking for Western people who understand the oriental music. It happened that I played and recorded with singers like Mohammed Moneer as guitar player. I kept on studying the Ud. It was not easy to find a teacher because some people do it just for money and others if you have good relations with them. But I found a very good teacher in 1990. He was actually a violinist. He also was one of the Ud school members. With him I found a strong cooperation although he did not speak English we always sat together to practice every evening. “ This is how Mr. Roman Bunka quenched his thirst of Arab music and Ud as narrated by him.
Mr. Roman Bunka is currently visiting Yemen at an invitation by the German Embassy in Yemen to take part in the activities organized by the Ministry of Culture. He said he was more interested in meeting with people familiar with Yemeni culture than visiting tourist places.

Visions of Yemen:
Differing Perspectives of a Uniquely Beautiful Country

Karen Dabrowska
The first exhibition of Yemeni art to tour Britain provides differing perspectives of a uniquely beautiful country.
The 16 Yemeni and 11 British artists prove beyond doubt that Yemen continues to live up to its name of Arabia Felix, the happy country. Apart from the abstract red, dark blue and purple figures of Mazher Nizar, subtle light colors are used to convey the serenity of a land steeped in history. Yemen is a society which has lept into the 21st century - bedouins communicate using mobile phones - but the artists are drawn to the scenery, landscape and self assured figures in traditional dress, proud of their heritage and culture.
The background and experience of the artists is as varied as the scenes they portray: Mazher Nizar was born in India and studied at the Government College of Art & Craft in Calcutta. He set up the Hadda Art Gallery in Sana’a and was a founding member of Yemen’s Modern Art Group. The work of Abdo Nagi, a Yemeni ceramist and potter who settled in Britain in 1967 is sought after by private collectors and is also in the public collections of the British Museum and the Caermarthen County Museum in Wales. Ilham Al Arashi, the head of the Aden Branch of the Union of Yemeni Visual Artists studied at the Surikov Academy in Moscow. Yasin Ghaleb is the Director of the Bab Al Yemen Information Centre and Art Gallery. He refuses to put a label on his work. ‘I am not going to put myself in a box and then force myself to take the shape of that box’. His unique mixed media creations come in many shades of brown. ‘Sana’a is brown, the Yemeni skin is brown, it is the colour of the land, the mother of human beings and we have to respect it’, he insists.
Among the British artists featured at the exhibition was Carolne Lees, Martin Yeoman, Anita Hill and Ken Howard.
Born in Shropshire, Caroline Lees studied at The Corcoran Gallery School of Art in Washington DC and was selected for master classes in oils at The Slade School of Art, London. There have been several one-man shows and she has exhibited widely in the USA, the Middle East and the UK, including the Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions, the Mall Galleries, RSMA, and The Mathaf Gallery, London. She has also had one book published: “Caroline Lees’ Watercolors of Shropshire”, and her work has appeared as prints, cards and illustrations and can be found in many collections, including that of the National Trust. One of the organizers of Visions of Yemen, she was commissioned to paint a watercolor for HRH Prince of Wales’ visit to Oman.
Martin Yeoman has exhibited at the Royal Academy and won several prestigious awards. His most recent works include illustrations for Tim Mackintosh-Smith’s book Yemen: Travels in Dictionary Land.
Anita Hill, is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society with whom she had an exhibition of paintings of Yemen in 1997 and Ken Howard was twice appointed official artist for the Imperial War Museum in Northern Ireland. He went on to paint for the army in Germany, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Brunei, Nepal and Oman.
Yemen’s only art critic, Amnah Al Nassiri, travelled to London with the exhibition. She is foreign-educated but draws her inspiration from Yemen’s rich artistic heritage. She was raised in Rada, a small conservative town near Sana’a and owes her success largely to a very open-minded family. Al Nassiri started painting at the age of six, her mother encouraged her and after completing her secondary education in Egypt she studied philosophy of art at Sana’a University’s Faculty of art. She continued her studies at the Surkov Academy in Moscow and is now in the second year of studies for her PhD on the foundation of an Arab theory of art.
‘I try to look at simple forms from the perspective of the subconscious and I draw my inspiration from the decorative art of Yemen, buildings, doors etc, Al Nassiri explained. Her study of philosophy, especially Sufism, has assisted her work and she was the designer of a poster for the United Nations Women’s conference held in China. She also produced an art newspaper, Tashkil.
An increasing number of British artists have been visiting Yemen but the work of contemporary Yemeni artists is little known outside the Arabian peninsula. One of the main aims of the exhibition was to introduce their work to the British public and present it alongside recent paintings of Yemen by British artists.
The exhibition was organized by The British-Yemeni Society in conjunction with the Yemen International Cultural Circle (Al-Halaqa) in Sana’a. It was supported by the Yemeni Ambassador, the Al-Tajir World of Islam Trust, the Seven Pillars of Wisdom Trust, Nimir Petroleum Company Ltd, Longulf Trading (UK) Ltd, Thabet International Ltd, Yemenia and Visiting Arts.
Al-Halaqa is a non-governmental organization established in 1996 to promote the visual arts in Yemen and bring the country’s contemporary art movement to international attention. It was the brain child of Dutch-born Dr Jacques Veerman who has lived in Yemen for 16 years and emerged as a benevolent sponsor of the art movement.
Veerman is trying to build a bridge between different cultures and expose Yemeni artists to the work of others. Halaqa serves as a melting pot for different art forms.
The London venue of Visions of Yemen was the Kufa Gallery opened by Iraqi architect Mohammed Makiyya as a cultural forum for Middle Eastern events. In Cardiff the exhibition was shown at the Norwegian Church Gallery and in Birmingham at the Bordesley Centre.