YEMEN & GERMANY: Pushing for More Efficiency [Archives:1999/11/Business & Economy]

A German technical delegation is in town to push for “more efficiency in the use of German resources made available to Yemen”.
Yemeni-German development cooperation has been going on for over three decades, and is still going strong.
Dr. Heiner Schmidt-Burr of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and a large delegation from several German donor agencies such as KfW, GTZ are on a two week visit to Yemen.
The group organized several workshops on various fields of cooperation activity with a view to improving efficiency. “In view of receding funds in the future, Yemen-German development co-operation should be made even more efficient. To achieve that, we are organizing different workshops, in order to try to maximize returns,” said Dr. Schmidt-Burr.
Four different training programs were held in Sana’a and Aden. These were:
1. “Vocational Training, Small and Micro Enterprises & Industrial Development”, on 09/03/1999.
2. “Health and Family Planning”, on 10/03/1999.
3. “Water Supply, Sanitation, Water Loss Reduction, and Waste Management”, on 11/03/1999.
4. “Basic Education, Agriculture, Strengthening of Self-reliance and Cultural Heritage”, on 13/03/1999.
The German side is pushing bilateral cooperation to focus on three dimensions – capacity building process among the people; enhancing the professional performance of government and non-governmental organizations; and strengthening state institutions – government, parliament, judiciary, court of auditors and others,” he explained.
Actually, the two governments had agreed to streamline the way the Yemeni side uses the German aid packages that are made available to it. The minutes of the October 28-29, 1998 official consultations state: “In view of dwindling funds likely to be made available in the future, Yemeni-German development cooperation should be made even more efficient.”The minutes also indicate that the criteria for German funds to be made available for Yemen are:
– Development-oriented nature of state action;
– Popular participation in political decision-making;
– Respect for human rights;
– A market-friendly and socially and ecologically compatible economic order;
– Certainty of the rule of law.
By: Hatem Bamehriz,
Yemen Times

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