In Brief [Archives:2006/935/Business & Economy]
– A government delegation chaired by Planning and International Cooperation Undersecretary Abdullah Hasan Al-Shatir heads to Vienna next week to hold talks with OPEC Fund administration regarding supporting and financing Yemeni development and water projects in Hodeidah governorate.
Al-Shatir said meetings with officials at OPEC Fund for Development will discuss ways to activate joint cooperation areas between the two sides and possibly support and finance development projects set in Yemen's third five-year plan.
– Dr. Yahya Al-Mutawakil, Deputy Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, will attend Technical Committee meetings in Riyadh next week to prepare for a conference to promote Yemeni investment opportunities. Besides Yemen, the committee includes representatives of Gulf Cooperation Council Finance Ministers.
– On April 16, the Specialist Penal Court will decide complaints by the defense for chairman and members of Watani Bank for Trade and Investment's board of directors accused of squandering depositor and shareholder funds estimated at more than YR 19 billion.
Ahmed Ali Al-Hamdani, the first defendant among Watani board members, said depositors' funds were not squandered and he is ready to repay such funds if returned to his former job.
– A Yemeni government delegation recently participated in meetings of the sixth session of World Trade Organization (WTO) experts in Beirut. Salem Salman, undersecretary of the industry and trade ministry for international relations sector, said the meeting discussed the extent of implementing results from the WTO's sixth ministerial conference.
Salman added that over two days, attendees heard several proposals by participating states on the process to join the WTO. He pointed out that during the meetings, he submitted Yemen's efforts in the process to join the WTO and negotiations between Yemen's negotiating team and WTO members.
– Abdulsalam Al-Jund, director of the Ministry of Electricity's renewable energy department, said funding of three strategic projects by the United Nations Regional Program for Environment will be discussed with program director Habib Al-Habir during his expected visit to Yemen.
Al-Jund indicated that the ministry has finalized all studies related to the projects, which include a project to generate power from heat emitted from inside the earth, another to improve energy in Yemen and a third to decrease air pollution resulting from vehicle emissions.
Al-Habir is scheduled to arrive in Sana'a the middle of this month for a several-day visit.
– In a meeting with the German ambassador to Yemen, Khalid Mahfoudh Bahah, Yemeni Minister of Oil and Minerals, discussed several issues related to the oil, gas and minerals sectors, as well as German firms' participation in exploring and producing oil and gas in Yemen. Bahah stressed Yemen's keenness for the German side's participation in this vital sector by offering all necessary facilities to them, indicating a desire to strengthen relations between the two countries.
Bahah extended Yemen's invitation to German companies interested in becoming acquainted with Yemeni investment opportunities in oil and gas. The meeting also touched on the possibility of German government support for the ministry to receive German experts to qualify Yemeni staff in the areas of oil, gas and minerals.
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