Yemen hopes London Summit will provide military and development support

By Faisal Darem in Yemen
For Al-Shorfa.com
2010-01-21

[FAISAL DAREM] Hisham Sharaf Abdullah, Yemen's Vice Minister for international planning and cooperation.

During a summit scheduled for January 28th in London, Yemen will seek support for its security situation, for its military and especially for the development of the country.

Hisham Sharaf Abdullah, Yemen's Vice Minister for international planning and co-operation, discussed with Al-Shorfa what Yemen expects from the summit, its importance and the necessary elements for success. He also discussed Yemen's needs to prevail in its counter-terrorism efforts.

Al-Shorfa: What are you anticipating the London summit will provide for Yemen?

Abdullah: One part will be political support, but I would like to focus on the developmental aid that will be offered to Yemen.

We are expecting a lot from the coming summit because Yemen is spending a lot of its financial resources on multiple development needs while at the same time spending millions of dollars on strengthening security and stability, dealing with both the war on terror as well as internal crises like the Houthi insurrection in the north and the separatist movement in the south.

That is why Yemen needs development assistance in 2010 and 2011. Yemen is using its hard currency to pay interest on its national debt. The international community should cancel a big part of this debt just as it did in other countries like Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan which will make many things possible.

We expect donors to support the balance of payments because stopping the outflow of hard currency on government imports will protect the value of the Yemeni Rial. The international community should also take into consideration that Yemen is spending billions in fighting al-Qaeda and piracy at the same time. And because these two issues are global problems, Yemen needs generous support in its fight, and therefore we expect the aid to reflect the importance of these problems.

Al-Shorfa: What kind of aid do you expect to receive?

Abdullah: Yemen needs help on three levels. First, we need financial and logistical support for our armed forces. We need to modernise our military infrastructure including the air force, the coast guard and the counter-terrorism forces. We need to develop information databases so that we can create a modern system for security and military operations that is on the same level as other countries in the region. Second, we will be expecting support for development in Yemen which will lead to the revitalization of the country. Finally, we are expecting a large portion of Yemen's debt to be erased. The total amount owed by Yemen is approximately $5.6 billion and that is not a very large sum for the international community to take care of.

Al-Shorfa: Why is it important for the summit to succeed?

Abdullah: Yemen wants this summit to succeed because it will help eradicate terrorism, especially al-Qaeda's presence in the country. By helping Yemen in its war against terror and piracy, the world will enhance security and stability in a very important region, located at the gate of an important international maritime route and in the richest region in the world in natural resources. That is why it is in everyone's interest to help Yemen fight these dangers, taking into consideration that Yemen has huge human resources, that it has the vision and the leadership necessary to accomplish this mission. All that is missing is support.

Al-Shorfa: What are the keys to success at the London summit?

Abdullah: The keys to success are the good intentions of the donors in supporting Yemen on the military, security and developmental level and supporting the Yemeni leadership in its effort to build a state based upon law. Yemen should be considered as a special case that requires immediate assistance and support. The past experience supporting the coast guard must not be repeated. We required $500 million to create effective coast guard forces equipped with radar, ships and training facilities for special teams. What we received in the past five years was less than $8 million.

Al-Shorfa: There are official reports about the failure of a number of investment projects. The government failed to meet the necessary conditions that would have allowed it to receive financing and donations offered by the international community during the London Summit of 2006 in order to complete these projects.

Abdullah: We had asked the donors during the London summit of 2006 to finance investment projects valued at $10 billion, but we received only $5 billion. Traditional donors and supporters of Yemen offered $2 billion while the new donations represented $3 billion.

Concerning the failure to accomplish the projects and not taking advantage of resources and investments offered, it was not a failure on the part of the government but rather the slow pace of the government to deal with the situation. The reasons for that are the weakness of local resources, the lack of research, and a disagreement between the donor and the state on how the projects should be accomplished. But the main reason remains the slow pace of the administration and I say that very honestly. We are working on overcoming this situation and finding an efficient administration that will complete the projects for 2010- 2011.

This new administration eliminated centralization in the Ministry of Planning, and the work is now in cooperation with all the state's institutions. The role of the Ministry of Planning now is to follow up with the donors and search for investments. The technical and executive work will be taken care of by other ministries.

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