Kingdom to co-chair Yemen donors’ meeting in London

Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the United Kingdom will co-chair the “Friends of Yemen” conference in London on Tuesday in an effort to garner financial support to alleviate the suffering of the Yemeni people.
This London conference is expected to endorse an ambitious proposal for a restructured “Friends of Yemen” group, which can provide more targeted support for the impoverished nation.
“Senior Saudi officials, led by Prince Turki bin åMohammed bin Saud Al-Kabeer, deputy foreign minister for multilateral relations, will attend the meeting in London,” said Osama Nugali, spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Monday.
A statement issued by the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office, said “the meeting, co-chaired by three countries, will be held at the level of foreign ministers.”
The statement said the conference will be launched by UK Foreign Secretary William Hague.
“It will then be jointly chaired by UK Minister for the Middle East Hugh Robertson, International Development Minister Alan Duncan, Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic and Cultural Affairs Yusuf Al-Sadoun and Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Al-Qirbi,” said the FCO statement.
Presentations at the conference will also be made by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) the UN and Yemen to unify efforts and to realize donors’ pledges.
The conference will discuss three key themes of policy, economy, and security to enable participating countries to become acquainted with the latest developments in Yemen.
The London meeting is significant keeping in view the UN warning about the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, which comes ahead of the gathering of international donors.
According to Johannes van Der Klaauw, the UNHCR’s senior resettlement coordinator in Yemen, the situation in Yemen is deteriorating on all fronts.
“Yemen is in need of about $592 million as an emergency humanitarian fund to respond to the humanitarian crisis,” he said.
He said that nearly half of Yemen’s population is in pressing need of humanitarian aid.
About 13 million Yemenis are unable to access clean and safe drinking water and adequate sanitation, while about 10 million Yemenis don’t have enough food.
Der Klaauw also said that more than one million children in Yemen are suffering from malnutrition and food insecurity.
The Friends of Yemen group was established in January 2010. The group consists of 39 countries, as well as regional and international organizations. Major member organizations are the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the Arab League, the European Union (EU), the United Nations (UN), the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) and the Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries (OPEC).