President: Unity is as steady as mountains

ADEN, Nov. 25 (Saba)- President Ali Abdullah Saleh confirmed Sunday that there is no fear on Yemeni unity saying, “Unity is steady like high mountains, and if there are problems, they could be quickly solved.” During his meeting with leaders of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), the president said that there are no problems but we would like to work on solving issues of lands, housings and pensioners, “We have settled most of these issues and nearly 8202 cases of pensioners have been solved and 4700 retired have been promoted. ” He added that a chain of meetings have been held for solving different issues, among of which the issue of housings and that $ 40 million and YR 80 billion have been allocated for this purpose. He directed the government to provide soft loans saying, “We have agreed with the government to reduce benefits to 40%” for encouraging investment in housing field. The president said that the government will give investors lands for free for starting housing projects in 2008. “I hope from people of Aden city to cooperate with local authority in solving problem of irregular building for it distorts the image of the city,” he said, adding that Aden is a beautiful city and we have to keep it free from unplanned building. He directed government and the young people that the real arm for combating unemployment is to focus to technical and vocational institutes for there are no jobless people among those graduates of these institutes. Then he directed local authority to take care of fishermen in the governorate as is the case in Mukalla. “Fishery wealth, unlike oil, is renewable one.” Saleh said, adding that “the situation of fishermen in Hadramout has improved since announcing the Republic of Yemen Fishing is very good and we have to take care of fishermen in all coastal areas, he concluded. MS/AM Saba