RIYADH, 12 March 2007 — Saudi and Gulf investors who seek to invest in Yemen will be given several privileges, among which is being exempted from paying taxes and being able to transfer profits and capital without hindrance, according to Yemeni Minister of Trade and Commerce Khaled Sheikh.
Addressing a joint press conference in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretariat General Headquarters yesterday with GCC Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Al-Attiyah, the minister said his country was seeking investments from Gulf countries, Arab and foreign countries worth $10 billion.
The press gathering highlighted the upcoming Conference for Exploring Investment Opportunities in the Republic of Yemen, scheduled to be held in Yemen on April 22. The GCC had authorized Al-Iktissad Wal-Aamal Group to organize the event. CEOs and general managers from over 20 Gulf, Arab, and foreign establishments are expected to attend.
Al-Attiyah said organizing the conference was part of the agreement signed between GCC states and Yemen to facilitate more economic cooperation in the GCC 2001summit.
“There are over 100 investment opportunities in Yemen,” the minister said.
Among the potential areas for investment was three electrical power plants with the capacity of 400 megawatts for every plant, he said. He added that other investment venues were in seaport facilities, airline industry, water desalination plants, mining industry, oil refineries, and railway industry. The five industrial zones in Yemen were also a rich area for potential investment, he noted. Other investment opportunities were in the health sector. “Many health centers (and) private hospitals can be built in Yemen with foreign capital,” he said.
Investment in tourism sector was another area open for investors in the GCC.
“We will offer specific projects that can be owned entirely or partly by the foreign investors,” Shiekh said.
Al-Attiyah, on his part, noted the importance of establishing joint GCC-Yemeni venues, especially in tourism, industrial, and commerce sectors.
Sheikh said the Yemeni government has been implementing a series of economic reforms since both Yemens unified into one in 1990. “Since the formation of the unified economy, all sectors have been freed for investment,” the minister said. “We have also had several negotiations to join the World Trade Organization.”
He mentioned that 40 percent of the total imports of Yemen were from Gulf countries.
Highlighting some of the aspects in the Yemeni Investment Law, the minister said that all investment companies would be exempted from paying custom tariffs in its basic structure contents. “It also gives an exemption to paying taxes on profits from five to seven years, depending on the project,” he said.
As for the labor employed in joint Yemeni projects, he said that projects located within the free zone have the freedom of importing foreign labor or recruiting local, or both.
“As for the law for inner markets, the basis is Yemeni labor. But the law allows the import of foreign labor within 10 percent,” he said.
The minister said that if and when experienced local labor was not found, investors were allowed to import more than 10 percent of foreign labor.
The Yemeni government is in talks with a Malaysian investor interested in backing a new oil refinery in the country with Gulf investors about developing its islands, the minister.
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi visited Yemen earlier this month.
Despite the minister saying that his country was “working hard” on joining the GCC, the secretary-general said it was still early before a measure could be adopted by the six GCC countries.
“We should not surpass the necessary steps,” he said. “This must be done in a careful and studied manner.”
A Yemeni source told Arab News that Yemen was likely to join the GCC before 2015, after the country implements a number of economic reforms to boost its overall GDP growth.
