Yemen-China, distinguished economic relations [Archives:2003/695/Business & Economy]

Meetings of the 6th session of the Yemeni-Chinese joint committee express and indicate of distinguished relations between the two countries as they are connected by trade, economic and cultural agreements and protocols.
Roots of Yemeni-Chinese relations can be traced to mid fifties of the last century, and they had been founded on bases of partnership and fruitful cooperation. Those relations had begun in 1956 and then when the two countries had signed a treaty for friendship in 1958.
Visits to Peking by resident Ali Abdulla Saleh in December 1987 and 1998 as well as the visit to Peking by vice-president Abdah Rabou Mansour Hadi in 1999 had engendered and developed new relations in the course of cooperation between Yemen and China.
China has offered Yemen financial loans and assistance for funding projects in industrial, educational, trade, agriculture, health and arts fields and others. During the course of Yemeni-Chinese cooperation, the two side have concluded 79 agreements, meeting minutes, protocols, memoranda of understanding and executive programs. The Yemen-Chinese joint committee was established in 1987 and since then it has held five sessions that produced many agreements in various areas.
Recently a group of Chinese companies have inaugurated investment activities in Yemen while 12 Chinese companies have entered the Yemeni market carrying out contracts and constructions.
Among the important Chinese projects implemented in Yemen is the Friendship Bridge in the capital Sana'a and several other vital projects.
Figures issued by the Central Apparatus for Statistics indicate that the value of Yemeni exports to China in 1980 have risen to around YR 50 billion and to top YR 125 billion in 2002.
Yemeni exports to China are mainly crude oil, fish, and aluminum, while the Yemeni imports from China have witnessed a great qualitative development. Indicators of the value of Yemeni imports have registered an amount of around YR30 billion.
China occupies the 8th place among the countries exporting t Yemen, therefore the scheduled 6th meeting of the joint committee would enhance and consolidate future cooperation of the two countries in various areas.
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