Educational delegation flies to Djibouti

SANA'A, May 8 ( Saba)- An educational delegation led by Education Minister Abdul-Salam al-Jawfi headed on Friday to Djibouti for a few-day official visit .

Speaking to Saba upon departure, al-Jawif said that the delegation will discuss with Djiboutian officials the bilateral cooperation within the implementation of the cooperation agreement signed between the two countries three years ago.

Moreover, the two countries will discuss the future mechanism for implementing the whole cooperation program, he said.

On the visit, the delegation will familiarize with the conditions of the Yemeni community in Djibouti and the Yemeni school to find how the Ministry of Education can support students at it, he added.

Yemen foreign currency reserves decrease in first quarter of 2010

SANA'A, May 08 (Saba) – Yemen's reserves of foreign currency decreased in the first quarter of 2010 to YR 6.2 billion compared with YR 7.5 billion during the same period last year, a report by the Yemen Central Bank has noted.

The report also said that the bank's budget increased during the same period to almost YR 2 trillion compared with YR 1.7 trillion last year.

The net external assets witnessed a slight increase reaching YR 1.8 trillion, the report added.

Yemen, kingdom discuss agricultural, cultural cooperation

SAYOON, May 08 ( Saba) - A meeting has been held in Sayoon city, Hadramout, that brought together Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation Mansour al-Hawshabi ,Minster of Culture Mohammad al- Maflahi and Governor of Hadrmout Salim al- Khanbashi and Saudi ambassador to Yemen Ali bin Mohammed al- Hamdan.

It focused on cooperation between Yemen and Saudi Arabia in the fields of agriculture and culture and means to boost cooperation in all areas.

Moreover, the meeting praised the deep-rooted ties and cooperation level between the two neighbors.

Yemen to use LGMIS to disburse funds from donors

The Ministry of Finance has approved an electronic disbursement system that will be dedicated to disburse funds from loans and grants allocated by international donors.

The new system, fully developed by a Yemeni team, is called Loans and Grants Management Information System (LGMIS).

Yemen suffers the lack of capacity to absorb donors’ fund allocated for development projects in the London Donor Conference held in 2006 and other commitments in the following years.

According to the Central Bank of Yemen, the Yemeni authorities have addressed concerns raised by international donors over the slow disbursement of international aid by creating an electronic database for aid disbursement.

‘’Donors always complain about this issue and the USAID’s Enhancing Government Effectiveness (EGE) Project in Yemen, carries the solution represented by LGMIS, which is introduced by Management Systems International (MSI), a Washington-based consultancy firm’’, the CBY said in a press release.

The Ministry of Finance expects the system to be rolled out by the end of April.

The new system will link financing received by the Ministry of Finance to the central bank which will then distribute the funds to the intended recipients.

Initially rolled out for projects in the education and agriculture and health fields, it is estimated that the electronic transfers will reduce processing time to between five and eight days from an average of 35 days under the current manual transfer process.

The new process will also enhance record keeping for auditing purposes.

Endemic corruption has plagued Yemen's attempts to attract international aid and investment, needed urgently to diversify its economy away from dependence on dwindling oil revenue.

As international donors have met recently to discuss boosting aid to the impoverished nation, they have frequently raised concern over Yemen's capacity to absorb higher aid flows.

During a recent Friends of Yemen meeting donors raised concerns over why much of the US$5.7 billion pledged during a 2006 London donor conference has not been spent.

Although creating an electronic trail for aid payments will help improve the capacity of Yemeni authorities to stamp out corruption, a leap forward should not be expected in the near term as the political will to do so is still largely lacking.

Egyptian FM applauds Yemeni initiative of Arab union

The Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit praised here on Monday the Yemeni initiative to activate the Arab joint action via establishing Arab Union.

During an interview with a TV program on the Egyptian first channel, Aboul Gheit affirmed that Yemen's project for establishing the union, which replaces the Arab League can only be established if all Arab states have a strong political desire.

Although the Yemeni project is completely good, but it has to be studied by experts and not only by foreign ministers, he said.

The Egyptian minister made clear that a five-member committee of five Arab leaders was formed to study the alterations in the system of Arab joint action in order to establish this union.

We need a long-time for preparation, during which Arab peoples have to accept the idea, the minister said.

Giving an example of the unfortunate events of the Egypt and Algeria football match, he said that Arab peoples wince, when they meet face to face.

President receives US Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence

President Ali Abdullah Saleh received on Monday the US Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence James R. Clapper along with the accompanying delegation, currently on an official mission to Yemen.

During the meeting, the discussion addressed bilateral relations and joint cooperation spheres topped by security and training counterterrorism forces and coastguards.

They also talked about situations in the African Horn, specially the Somali situations, and anti-piracy efforts.

President Saleh noted the on-going cooperation between Yemen and America either in the developmental field or training and information exchange for the interest of the Yemeni and American peoples.

For his part, Clapper hailed this improving kind of cooperation, pointing out to the exerted efforts of Yemen in counterterrorism in light of its recent preemptive strikes against Al-Qaeda elements.

He asserted keenness of the United States to promote ties and joint cooperation with Yemen in various areas.

Yemen calls int'l community to assist in refugee problems

Yemeni official called Monday the international community on taking responsibility for standing by Yemen to face the refuge problems.

During a meeting held in the Interior Ministry to discuss the annual report of International organizations for 2009, Undersecretary of Interior Ministry Abdul-Rahman al-Barawi confirmed that Yemen with its limited potentials can not sustain the burden of this issue alone, especially as the Somali refugees in the country reach over one million.

The meeting reviewed the annual reports of Danish Council of Refugees, Italian INTERSOS organization in addition to a third report presented by UN High Commissioner for Refugees on the impacts of the mixed migration in Yemen.