Businesspeople and economists are upbeat that investors from the Gulf would return to Yemen when Operation Decisive Storm ends.

Businessman Abdullah Al-Maghlouth said recently that there are about 150 Gulf projects in Yemen. Of this total, 127 are Saudi projects worth SR6 billion that could create 11,000 jobs. The United Arab Emirates has 12 projects and Kuwait 11, which could provide 2,000 jobs, he said.

He said Gulf countries stopped investing in Yemen 10 years ago especially in Hadramout because it is linked to the ruling class in the north. The reconstruction in Yemen would be similar to that of Kuwait after 1990, he said.

Al-Maglouth said Yemeni workers are among the highest remitters of funds from Gulf countries. According to the International Monetary Fund, they transferred on average $1.3 billion yearly, of which $1.2 billion is from Saudi Arabia. There are 1.3 million Yemeni workers in the Gulf, 60 percent of them in Saudi Arabia. Abdullah Bawazir, a businessman responsible for investments in the Hadramout region, said the Houthis and the General People’s Congress have been the main obstacles to Saudi and other Gulf investors.

Bawazir said that when Prince Sultan, the late crown prince, visited Yemen several years ago, about 40 Saudi businesspeople wanted to invest in that country’s oil industry.

Two conferences were held in southern Yemen in 2007 and 2008, but the attitude of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, his insistence on connecting investment to the ruling classes in the north, and his refusal to establish a viable economy in the south “deprived Yemen of billions of dollars,” he said.

Bawazir also claimed that Saleh and the Houthis stopped Saudi Arabia from setting up four vocational institutes for high-level technical training of Yemenis in the manufacturing and oil industries.

He claimed that the ruling class in Yemen limited investments to Canadian, French and some South Korean companies, which was aimed at pushing out Saudi and Gulf investors. Bawazir said there were many Gulf businesspeople with roots in Hadramout, who wanted to invest in the home of their fathers and forefathers. However, the Houthis prevented this from happening, he alleged.

He said it was highly likely that these businesspeople would invest in Yemen after the war, including building hospitals and upgrading universities. He said a Saudi fish company has identified a large plot of land to establish a factory after the situation stabilizes. Salim Al-Afari, a Saudi investor in Yemen, said recent events had made business difficult, especially after the Houthis took control of the north. He said he owns several hotels and properties, and a fuel station, but has struggled with these businesses because of the lack of law and order.

Al-Afari said Yemen has skilled and affordable workers, acceptable infrastructure and good land that would be attractive for many investors. He said he had to cancel several contracts with the local government in one Yemeni region, including taking over a major hotel, after the Houthis took over the government.

A Saudi businessman said investors from the Kingdom have been harassed by the Houthis. He said he had to sell his fishing boats and fire his Yemeni fishermen because his business was no longer viable.