President Saleh to visit France

SANA’A, June 09 (Saba)- A diplomatic source said on Saturday that President Ali Abdullah Saleh would pay an official visit to France for talks with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy. The source said that Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi discussed with French ambassador Alain Jupé to Yemen the ongoing preparations for the visit. Al-Qirbi also talked with Jupé on mutual ties between the two friendly countries and ways of enhancing and developing them. France and Yemen have regular dialogue and are close partners in global counter-terrorism and security issues. Several cooperation projects in the institutional sphere and the fight against poverty were recently set in train in Yemen in the context of Priority Solidarity Fund (FSP) programs. Under the three-year FSP action plan, France provided 14 million euros in aid to Yemen over the 2006-2008 period. YA/NS