President Saleh discusses reforms with WB President

SANA’A,(Saba)- President Ali Abdullah Saleh held talks on Wednesday with the visiting President of the World bank James Wolfensohn on the program of economic and administrative reforms. The two men reviewed the progress of WB-assisted development projects, meant to reduce sharp unemployment and alleviate poverty. The WB President said the reforms program, which Yemen adopted following the 1994 war against secessionists, has been gaining momentum in tandem with similarly successful democratization and reaching out to women to involve them in development. “The World Bank appreciates that Yemen is struggling to cope in spite of meager resources and over population,” Wolfensohn pointed out emphasizing WB commitment to assist in finding other resources in fisheries, tourism, energy or investments. He promised that the water sector would receive large support from the World Bank. President Saleh, in return, confirmed that Yemen would press ahead with reforms on economic, administrative and judicial levels in cooperation with the bank. The World Bank has been providing steady assistance, technical and financial, to Yemen for combating and eliminating poverty over the last 30 years. It has supported more than 130 projects in Yemen with a total assistance of 2 billion dollars. Under the reforms program, the Parliament approved on December a package of administrative and economic reforms whereby the rest of government subsidy for oil products will be lifted. AA/AASABA