Yemen and FAO signed on Monday an agreement to improve the quality of fisheries products and increase the fish exports and their added value.
Yemen was given $424.000 in initial aid from FAO which will be spend through a project which aims to develop the skills of fishermen and the skills of the workers who process and manufacture fish products in line with international requirements.
Fisheries cooperatives and the fish exports society will take advantage of this project through processing and marketing their products with the aim to ease their access to internal and external markets.
After the signing, Fisheries Minister, Awadh Al-Soqotri, hailed the aid, calling for more cooperation between Yemen and FAO. He stressed the importance of providing fisheries data to help prepare efficient plans to develop the bilateral cooperation.
Representative of FAO expressed readiness to provide technical assistance for Yemen's fisheries sector, saying this sector is promising.
Many Yemeni people depend on fishing to support their families, mainly those in the coastal cities.
Yemen has a coastal line of 2400 km and studies suggest improvements to the fisheries sector at a time when the country is battling a range of crises including hunger.