Saudi Arabia’s donor conference ‘embodies Kingdom's support’ of Yemen

RIYADH: A donor conference organized by Saudi Arabia reflects the Kingdom’s support for the Yemeni people, Yemen’s government said Monday.
The conference, which is set to get underway on Tuesday, aims to draw financial pledges from international donors to help meet the basic needs of the Yemeni people. 
The event will also raise awareness of the humanitarian crisis left by the war triggered by the Iran-backed Houthi militia.
Yemen’s Information Minister Muammar Al-Iryani said Yemen is facing difficult circumstances that need the rapid intervention of humanitarian organizations.
“Organizing, sponsoring, and hosting the donor conference in Saudi Arabia, and the support that it has devoted, embodies the Kingdom’s supportive positions for the Yemeni people facing difficult circumstances and unstable situations that require urgent support and rapid and continuous intervention from international humanitarian and relief agencies and organizations,” Al-Iryani said on Twitter.
The Donors’ Conference for Yemen 2020 will be held virtually and is an extension of Saudi Arabia’s global humanitarian and development contribution. 
The Kingdom is urging other donor countries to participate. The UN said that the aim is to raise some $2.4 billion to pay for the world’s biggest aid operation.
Al-Iryani added that “the Kingdom’s role in supporting and financing relief and development projects in Yemen was and remains pivotal and major, as Saudi grants work to meet the basic needs and services of Yemeni citizens, in cooperation with specialized international UN humanitarian and relief agencies and organizations.”
He said that the conference will contribute to helping community support programs that “lead to achieving self-sufficiency for beneficiary families,” and also support economic activity in various Yemeni governorates, thus reducing dependence on humanitarian aid and providing new job opportunities for the Yemeni people.
The community programs that the donor conference will support aim to provide sustainability by utilizing, investing and developing local resources, Al-Iryani said.
Rehabilitating orphans, economic empowerment of fishermen, supporting productive families, and providing assistance to farmers, were among the examples he gave. 
The conference also aims to finance and support health projects to help tackle chronic diseases, as well as an outbreak of COVID-19 that is spreading rapidly through parts of the country.
The minister said educational projects, women support programs, childcare projects, and work to rehabilitate fighters would also benefit.