Yemen needs to work harder to receive more assistance [Archives:2007/1036/Front Page]
Nadia Al-Sakkaf
SANA'A, March 25 ) Although the Yemeni government displayed a commitment to good governance in its dialogue with the European Union, more effort must be made to acquire additional assistance, commented European Commission Charge d'Affaires Ralf Dreyer on the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome.
“As an economic power, we know that an economy depends upon good governance and respect for freedoms in order to survive and the best way to achieve this is through democracy. Yemen has begun its democratic progress and we encourage it to keep going,” he said at a seminar held Saturday under the theme, “Where next for the EU and Yemen? Perspectives from both sides of the partnership.”
Along with Dreyer, seminar speakers included German Ambassador Frank Marcus Mann; Valery Christov, charge d'affaires of the Bulgarian Embassy in Sana'a, and Khalid Ismail Al-Akwa', director general of the European department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
On March 25, 1957, six European countries signed what's known as the Treaty of Rome, thus establishing the European Economic Community or the Common Market. European unity began more than a decade prior to the Treaty of Rome when European countries decided after World War II that they had had enough bloodshed. The driving force behind this unity was economy, as in the European Coal and Steel Community in the 1950s.
“Europe learned that for economic prosperity, there must be political stability. Our relations with Yemen focus on economic development as a priority,” Mann explained.
Bulgaria officially joined the union on Jan. 1, 2006, although it declared its will to join in 1988, finally submitting an application for accession in 1995. “It took more than a decade for Bulgaria to be accepted as an EU member state, but we worked very hard to achieve this. It was a national goal and we had to go through much reform and development and many years of negotiation to be successful,” Christov noted.
Yemeni-EU relations date back to the late 1970s and have been progressing ever since. “There was a small setback in 1990 due to Yemen's attitude toward the Gulf crisis. A lot of funding was withdrawn, but we gradually regained it and even went to higher levels of cooperation. I'll never forget the EU stance supporting Yemeni unity during the 1994 Civil War. They were in daily contact with us and very concerned that we should maintain our unity,” Al-Akwa' recalled.
Yemenis view the EU as a strong international power playing a positive role in the world and concerned with protecting the environment and freedoms worldwide, human rights activist and participant Jamal Al-Awadhi remarked.
Congratulating EU member states on the event, Dr. Raufa Al-Sharki president of the Cultural Development Programs Foundation and professor of Media and Gender Studies at Sana'a University, praised Europe's example of unity and expressed her regret for Arab nations, which should have learned from such an example.
Amel Al-Basha, chairwoman of the Sisters Arab Forum for Human Rights and regional representative for the International Criminal Court, observed, “Arab nations aren't ready for such unity because we haven't reached the level of development that would allow the various countries to cooperate together in one union without the strong destroying the weak.
“However, I do congratulate all Yemenis for Yemen joining the international agreement, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, because this is a step toward true democracy,” she added.
Saturday's seminar was attended by diplomats, government officials, NGO representatives and several media personnel.
——
[archive-e:1036-v:14-y:2007-d:2007-03-26-p:front]
