Almotamar.net -
Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi flew on Saturday to London, at the head of Yemen's delegation, to participate in the 7th meeting of the Group of Friends of Yemen scheduled for April 29.

The meeting, to be held at the Foreign Ministers level, is to discuss three key themes of policy, economy and security to get acquainted with the latest developments in Yemen.

Yemen's friends will aim to find the appropriate mechanisms to activate the group's action in line with the political process in Yemen and the outcomes of the National Dialogue Conference (NDC).

The groups meeting will be co-chaired by Yemen, Saudi Arabia and UK.

In a statement issued early this month, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said that after the conclusion of the NDC, Yemen's transition has begun a new stage towards a constitutional referendum and elections.

"This meeting is expected to endorse the Yemeni proposal for a restructured Friends of Yemen group which can provide more targeted support in Yemen."

The Friends of Yemen group was established in January 2010 during a meeting at ministerial level of the group's state members held to coordinate international support for Yemen's efforts to achieve the comprehensive development, tackle the reasons behind instability and help the government fight terrorism.

The meeting will be opened by UK Foreign Secretary William Hague and then be jointly chaired by Minister for the Middle East Hugh Robertson, International Development Minister Alan Duncan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Deputy Minister for Economic and Cultural Affairs Yousif Al-Saadoon and Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, according to the FCO statement.

Presentations will also be made by the Gulf Cooperation Council, the UN and the Yemeni Executive Bureau to accelerate absorption of donors' pledges, which matches donor pledges with projects.

Besides the group's restructuring, the priorities for the meeting include assessing progress on the political, economic and security objectives set at the last Friends of Yemen meeting in New York in 2013 and to ensure donors work closely with the Executive Bureau so the money pledged to help support Yemen's future is spent effectively.

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.