Germany provides US$110 million to Yemen

Source: Yemen Observer
02\10\2010
The German Ambassador in Yemen Michael Klor-Berchtold said that his country provides Yemen with USD 110 million every two years, pointing out that Germany was a strong advocate for Yemen during the New York summit.

Germany pledged comprehensive support to Yemen in the field of the necessary economic and political reforms related to the issue of creating job opportunities to the Yemeni youth.

«Germany supports offering opportunities to Yemeni workers in the Gulf Cooperative Council Countries’ “GCC” labor markets, and this is what we strongly supported during the Friends of Yemen conference held in New York,» the ambassador said in a press conference held Monday together with Salah al-Attar, head of the General Authority for Investment.

The ambassador said that without creating job opportunities for Yemenis there would be no stability and Yemeni history and civilization would be exposed to risks.

“Germany is the top individual donor to Yemen through the European Union and the third supporter to Yemen through the UN agencies,” the German ambassador went on saying.

The ambassador reviewed the German contribution to Yemen’s development, explaining that they managed to secure clean drinking water for one million Yemenis in different cities and rural areas, as well as their contribution in raising the enrollment rate of children in schools, especially females in rural areas.

The ambassador said more than once that what matters to Germany is not the amount of support for development in Yemen, but it is interested in making sure that these amounts reach effectively the intended destination for the service of Yemeni citizens, and that it does not go into unknown dark places.

The ambassador expected that the visit of the general authority of investment to Germany will result in the attraction of the Germany’s renewed investment in Yemen.

“The campaign comes within the overall German economic support to Yemen , as well as the private sector development,” the ambassador said ensuring the importance of building the youth and female capacity in the technical education and the vocational field, in addition to opening opportunities to women so they may access the labor market, pointing out that Germany has lately provided two million Euros to the sector.

Salah al-Attar, President of the General Investment Authority said that an authority delegation will launch a promotional visit to Germany next week, adding that the visit comes within the framework of the authority’s efforts to implement their tenth media campaign priority focusing on highlighting the multi-advantages that Yemen possesses.

Attar noted that the authority participates in these events according to well thought out plans that have contributed and still continue to contribute to attracting investment to Yemen, in addition to building a positive image abroad.

“A number of promising investment opportunities in infrastructure projects in Yemen will be presented at the workshop, especially in the power fields as Germany has a long experience in the field of renewable energy generation, industrial expertise and the creation and manufacture of gas power generators as well as the vocational education, training, health and other sectors,” al-Attar continued to say.

Al-Attar appreciated the German efforts to support Yemen’s development capabilities, including support to the General Investment Authority and the Yemeni private sector, pointing out that the authority is working to consolidate the relationship with Germany, for achieving sustainable development in Yemen.

In a related issue the authority registered during the first half of the current year 113 investment projects with an overall cost of YR 31billion. The authority’s promotional sector director Montaha Ali Mothana said that the assets of the projects amounted to YR 21 billion and will create 536 job opportunities.

She said that the projects are divided into local projects consisting of 98 projects constituting 86,73 percent of the local projects costing YR 28 billion 485 and 89 percent of the total invested capital and creating 120 job opportunities.

“The foreign investment projects are 15, at a rate of 13,27 percent of the total projects and costing YR 3 billion at a rate of 10,97 percent of the total invested capital and provides 416 job opportunities, “ said Mothana, adding that the industrial projects have topped the registered investment projects during the first half of this year, with the tourist projects coming next, the service projects occupying the third place and followed by the agricultural sector projects.

According to Mothana the registered investment projects are distributed among Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, China, Canada and Britain.