almotamar.net - SANAA-The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Yemen foreign ministers meeting began in Sana’a this evening to discuss arrangements for the meeting of the donors conference scheduled in London on 15-16 of this month.

At the opening session Yemen’s prime minister Abdulqader Bajammal affirmed the meeting bears a prominent implication and landmark in the Yemeni-Gulf economic, political and cultural relations and partnership, he emphasized that president Ali Abdullah Saleh attaches special attention to the meeting on which the Yemeni political leadership, the government and the people pin great expectations due its bearing of time horizons in the process of integration and incorporation between Yemen and the Arabian peninsula and the Gulf. The prime minister considered the meeting as practically embodying the conversion of the neighborly relations between Yemen and the Gulf states into genuine cooperation and partnership particularly that the world of today is seeing more relations of joint and mutual benefits that are indispensable in the process of security establishment and stability in our region that is facing many challenges.

PM Bajammal added “No one of us can deny we are interrelated in our steps and serious in our works. It maybe clear for us through our experiment in the fields of economy and politics and culture that any of us can go to globalization without and before building of economic foundations.” He pointed out since the reunification, Yemen and its political leadership have been realizing that the national peace is interconnected to political and economic and social stability and between what is national, pan-Arab and regional and international. Mr. Bajammal affirmed that Yemen will be able to overcome the present challenges especially those related to the basic structures if it has the opportunity for implementing its developmental and investment program in the coming years. The costs of Yemen’s needs have been estimated at $ 48 billion with an annual average amounting to $ 4 billion for development and services sectors and in return there is the economic and social development plan for alleviation of poverty of the period 2006-2010, approved by the Yemeni government and endorsed by the parliament and shoura council. In its preparation there has been consideration of the program for the achievement of goals of the millennium development by the year 2015, composed of the development of education, health services and provision of pure waters as well as development of regional and world economic partnership for the attainment of that goal.

Te GCC secretary general Abdulrahman al-Attiyah has on his part reviewed the efforts exerted after the King Fahd summit in Abu Dhabi in December 2005 concerning the study of Yemen’s development needs. He also praised in his address the Yemeni efforts for realization of reforms, indicating that it was agreed to continue in meetings of the joint Yemeni-Gulf technical committee for following up and translating results of the donors conference in addition to completion of studying the Yemeni development needs.
On the other hand the Qatari foreign minister sheikh Hamad bin Jabr Al-Thani affirmed his country’s keenness to develop the Gulf-Yemeni relation for achieving the integration with Yemen. On his part the Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs Dr Nazar Madani affirmed Saudi Arabia commitment to contribute to development of the Yemeni economy so that to keep pace with economies of the region’s states, saying the kingdom will not spare any effort for the achievement of the hoped for aims considering that support yield benefit for Yemen and the entire region.
Yemen’s foreign minister Dr Abu Bakr al-Qirbi said this meeting comes at a time when Yemen is living the joys of success of the presidential and local councils elections that represented a new victory of the Yemeni wisdom and that it is coinciding with the festival of Al-Fitr Eid and Days of the Yemeni revolution. He added that the convening of the second joint meting in Sana’a represents an important turning-point for the upgrading the Yemeni relations with the GCC states through their political will in supporting Yemen’s development program in the way qualifying it to be integrated with economies of the GVV states.