JEDDAH, 28 September 2003 — Saudi Arabia will open a new border outpost with its southern neighbor Yemen tomorrow, the fourth under a June 2000 agreement that ended a decades-long territorial dispute.
Al-Wadia outpost, east of the southern Najran region, will link the Yemeni province of Hadramaut with Saudi territory.
It will be inaugurated by Najran Governor Prince Mishaal ibn Saud in the presence of his counterpart from Hadramaut, Abdul Qader Ali Hilal, the Saudi Press Agency reported yesterday.
The move reflects “the keenness of the leaderships in both countries to open up avenues of cooperation between the two brotherly countries, especially in the economic and trade sectors,” Prince Mishaal told the agency.
The new outpost will “provide facilities and services” to citizens of the two countries, he said. The facility, which cost Saudi Arabia SR26 million ($7 million), will be the fourth and last stipulated by the agreement under which the neighbors settled their border dispute three years ago.
Three border outposts — Al-Tawal, Alb and Al-Bakaa — are already functioning in keeping with the accord.
The Kingdom and Yemen signed an historic pact on June 12, 2000 to mark off joint borders, ending a 60-year-long dispute and opening a new chapter in bilateral relations. The two countries also signed a contract worth $986 million with German firm Hansa Luftbild to stake out their common border in detail.
Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia and Yemen signed a series of accords to strengthen political and economic cooperation.
