The Riyadh Donor Conference designed to discuss the best ways to give aid to Yemen as well as establishing a dialog with the Yemeni government on its reform priorities started on Saturday at the GCC Secretariat General in Saudi Arabia.
During the first day meeting, Yemen highlighted its economic and security challenges and introduced the participants to progress made on boosting development with donor pledges.
Officials from donor funds at the GCC, the Secretariat General, the Islamic Development Bank, the Arab Fund for Social and Economic Development, the OPEC Fund, the EU, the U.S., Japan, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the UN and the British International Ministry are taking part in the meeting.
A delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Minister of Planning and International Cooperation is representing Yemen at the two-day meeting. Prime Minister Muhammad Ali Mujawar also flew to Riyadh today for a two-day visit.
Rebuilding war-ravaged Saada and the fight on terror in Yemen would be high on the agenda of Riyadh Conference that will gather donors and Yemen's partners to find the best ways to disburse aid to the country, the Yemeni ambassador to Saudi Arabia said on Friday.
Muhammad Al-Ahwal also said that the two-day conference would review progress made by the Yemeni government on boosting development with the donor pledges won at the 2006 London Conference under the third development plan.
The conference will be an extension of the two London conferences held in 2006 and 2010 and will assess donor pledges, Al-Ahwal added.
In January, British officials said that the conference would discuss how to support Yemen and establish a dialog with the government on its reform priorities.
During the first day meeting, Saudi Arabia said it has disbursed the rest of one-billion dollar grant it had pledged to provide to Yemen in 2006.
Deputy Director of the Saudi Fund for Development Yusuf Bin Ibrahim said the fund had signed nine agreements for financing several projects in Yemen at a cost of $ 642 million. The funds came within the Saudi grant, he said.
Also, four agreements were signed today on the sidelines of the Yemeni-Saudi Coordination Council round. The agreements were for about $ 115 million to finance power, sanitary, medical and educational projects in Yemen.
Riyadh will, furthermore, finance further projects within the grant, he said.
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