International fund to help Yemen to be established

International experts to monitor where money of Yemen’s donors and friends goes
By Nasser Arrabyee/22/01/2011

An American official said Saturday that his country is supporting the idea of establishing an international fund for receiving money from donors and friends and spending it only on economic and development projects.

The Yemen official news agency Saba quoted the Assistant Secretary of US Treasury for International Affairs, Andy Baukol as saying his country is “strongly supporting the establishment of international fund” for supporting Yemen.

The American official was in a meeting in Sana’a with the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Abdul Kareem Al Arahabi and other donors.

Since the London Conference in 2006 on Yemen, the donors and friends of Yemen have been promising to finance essential development projects to rescue the country from collapsing in the hands of the extremists groups like Al Qaeda.

Very little was paid so far of the approximate 7 billion dollars the donors promised to give because they do not trust in the government’s weak institutions. The international fund being established might reassure the donors to give their money to those responsible for the fund, with Yemeni government will be only one of them.