Friends of Yemen to review political progress, economic challenges

The British capital London will host on Thursday the 5th meeting of the Friends of Yemen to be co-chaired by Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Britain. Foreign Ministers and representatives of 30 countries and 8 international organizations will take part in the meeting, which will focus on three major themes: policy, economy and security. Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi said that the meeting of the Friends of Yemen will be briefed on the latest developments of the ongoing political process in the country and arrangements for the comprehensive national dialogue conference scheduled for March 18. "Various issues on the national arena would be debated in dialogue conference’s meetings in order to find far-reaching solutions with national consensus visions putting the nation’s interest first, in addition to determining the political system in Yemen and re-drafting the constitution", the Minister said. Concerning the economic situation, al-Qirbi said that the Friends of Yemen would get acquainted with the economic reforms and evaluates the commitment level of fulfilling the financial pledges donors announced at the Riyadh donor meeting and the 4th meeting of the Friends of Yemen in New York, both held in September 2012. The government’s efforts to absorb the donors’ funds and the possible means to accelerate the allocation of funds will be reviewed in the meeting. Moreover, the participants’ discussions will also deal with the recent developments on the security field, including the presidential recent decrees restructuring the military and security forces and the successes in the fight on terrorism in addition to assessing the level of security challenges and terrorist threats that still exist as well as the needed international aid. The UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said that the 5th meeting of the Friends of Yemen would be dedicated to assess progress on the ongoing political transition in Yemen. This meeting comes “following the successful event in New York in September, where the international community pledged nearly US$1.5 billion to support Yemen’s future.” "The meeting would follow up the commitments made by the international community in 2012 to provide financial assistance worth of $7.9bn to support the development in Yemen", Hague said, stressing the necessity to accelerate the allocation of the rest of financial assistance to help Yemen enhances its development and security as well as the underway political transition. “Yemen stands at a cross-roads,” he said, praising the President Hadi’s wise leadership in the current stage and the exerted efforts to translate the Gulf initiative’s terms into real action, particularly the arrangements made so far to hold the national dialogue conference and preparations for elections in 2014. Hague showed the international community’s understanding to the current challenges encounter the transition, saying “The challenges from spoilers and the dire security situation are ever present distractions.” “I look to the meeting in March in the hope that real progress can be made for the future of all Yemenis and the security of the wider region.” The co-chairmanship of the meeting will issue a statement, showing the attitude of Yemen’s friends to the political transition process in the country. The Friends of Yemen group was formed in January 2010 in London during a meeting at ministerial level of the group’s state members held to mobilize the international support to reinforce Yemen’s efforts to achieve the comprehensive development, tackle the reasons behind instability and help the government fight terrorism. Since foundation, the group held four ministerial meetings. The first was in London on January 24, 2010 followed by a meeting held in New York, USA, on September 24 of the same year. The third and fourth meetings held in 2012 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, (May 23) and New York (September 27). The group consists of 39 countries and regional and international organizations; they are Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Egypt, United Kingdom, United States, Russia, China, France, Germany, Japan, Turkey, the Netherlands, Algeria, Australia, Korea, Brazil, Malaysia, Czech, Denmark, India, Spain, Indonesia, Switzerland, Italy, Tunisia and Canada. The member organizations in the group are Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Arab League, European Union (EU), United Nations (UN), Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Islamic Development Bank (IDB), International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank (WB), Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD), Saudi Fund for Development (SFD), and OPEC.