President Saleh heads for U.S.

SANA’A, (Saba) – President Ali Abdullah Saleh headed on Saturday for the United States to participate in the G-8 summit that set to be held in June 8-10 at Sea Island, Georgia. President Saleh would met a head of the summit with the U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to discuss the current developments in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine and the U.N.’s role to restore peace in the world. President Saleh would met also with a number of American officials and discuss with them the Yemeni-U.S. mutual cooperation relations in various fields. Saleh said in remarks to Saba upon his departure that “Yemen participating in the G-8 summit with a number of Arab leaders comes in the frame work of exchanging views on the possible means of enhancing cooperation and partnership in democracy, developments and encouraging reform in the region.” President Saleh underlined that Yemen is one of the first countries that held the process of political and democratic reform since the establishment of the Republic of Yemen in May 22 1990 that has represented a great process of political reform in our national history then the economical and educational reform after the civil war in 1994. He said that Yemen had welcomed reform and affirmed that by Sana’a Declaration that represented the base of achieving reform, enhancing democracy and achieving the public partnership. He affirmed that “restoring peace comes beside reformation in the region that reposing on carrying out Road Map, the resolutions of the international community on Arab-Israeli conflict and restore security in Iraq.” Reform needs supporting of development efforts and helping the poor states by establishing development fund, fighting poverty ,abolishing the poor states’s debts and fighting terrorism, president Saleh added. JW/KMSABA