VIENNA, 10 April 2005 — The director-general of the OPEC Fund for International Development, Suleiman J. Al-Herbish, has held high-level talks with senior government officials in Yemen. He is leading a fund delegation during a three-day visit to Yemen to discuss the institution’s cooperation and future partnership with Sanaa.
Yesterday, Al-Herbish met separately with President Ali Abdullah Saleh and Prime Minister Abdulquader Bajamal. Both the president and prime minister prioritized vocational training, sanitation, agriculture, power and education as areas of special focus in the country’s development plan.
Al-Herbish assured the leaders of continued support, noting that Yemen was always accorded utmost importance in the fund’s lending programs. “Yemen’s priorities are the fund’s priorities,” the director-general emphasized.
The OPEC Fund delegation also met with the deputy prime minister, minister of labor and social affairs, mayor of Sanaa and minister of state and the deputy minister of vocational training. Extensive discussions were held with Ahmed Mohamed Sofan, deputy prime minister and minister of planning, on the future direction of cooperation between the fund and Yemen. Talks were also held with the executing agencies of the fund’s ongoing operations in Yemen in order to review progress.
To date, the OPEC Fund has extended development financing totaling over $177 million to Yemen.
