The two discussed current preparations for the upcoming visit of President Ali Abdullah Saleh scheduled for February.

The meeting brought up the accident shooting when a Russian helicopter affiliated to International Forces patrolling the Indian Ocean to fight pirates fired on a Yemeni fishing boat while it was out of the country’s territorial waters.

A fisherman was killed and two others injured.

On the other hand, Minister of Oil and Minerals Amir Salim Al-Aidrous headed Wednesday to France on a visit for chairing the meeting of the Yemeni Liquefied Natural Gas Company.

The meeting would be held in Paris on 29-30 January.

Upon departure, the minister said that the meeting will discuss issues related to the annual budget of the liquefied gas project in light of preparation for exporting liquefied natural gas from the Belhaf project in the second half of this year besides other related topics.

A giant liquefied natural gas project has been under construction in the Belhaf area in Shabwa province.

Main partner in the project is the French Total Company.