President visits Rimah districts

SANA’A, Jan 1 (Saba) – President Ali Abdullah Saleh paid on Thursday a visit to Rimah districts where he was greeted by local officials and senior social in the area. During his visit, president Saleh opened and laid down foundation stones for a number of development projects in the districts such as the project of Rimah road network at a total cost of YR 9 billion. In ceremony held in the occasion, president Saleh delivered a speech in which he hoped that the new year would be a good year for overcoming all problems of the Rimah districts. He pointed out to the project of the road network that links Raimah’s five districts, describing the project as a good solution to provide all services to the districts. President Saleh ordered the concerned bodies to provide health services to Raimah, notably in combating malaria in valleys. He also gave orders to the Agriculture and Irrigation Ministry to set up more dams and water barriers in the area to make use rainwater. Many speeches, were delivered during the ceremony, welcoming the president’s visit as a historical visit for the Rimah residents. AH/KM Public opinion unit to be established SANA’A, Jan 1 (Saba) – The School of Democracy and the Yemeni Corporation for Civil Development have agreed to set up a unit for public opinion surveys. None-governmental organizations will be able to depend on the surveys for making data bases to be acted upon. The unit will effectively gather accurate information about the destitute communities. The Executive of the school Jamal Al-Shami said the school aims to raise the awareness of students and women about freedoms and rights. “The School also is making the final arrangements for the Parliament of Children elections, scheduled for next April. AA/AA Al-Ahmar congratulates Sudanese counterpart SANA’A, Jan 1 (Saba) – Speaker of the Parliament Sheikh Abdullah Bin Hussein Al-Ahmar sent Thursday a cable of congratulations to chairman of the Sudanese National Council on his country’s independence day. In the telegram, the speaker wished his Sudanese counterpart good health and more progress and prosperity for the Sudanese people. AH/KM Interior minister heads for Tunisia SANA’A, Jan 1(Saba) – Interior Minister Rashad al-Alimi is heading for Tunisia on Saturday to participate in the Arab Interior Ministers meeting. The 26 September weekly said that the ministers would re-discuss the articles of Arab terrorism-related agreement to add new articles and enhance efforts to fight terrorism. It also said that the ministers would discuss the security issues such as terrorism, crime and drugs. In this framework the ministers would also discuss the means to enhance the security cooperation and joint work by activating the cooperation agreement and protocols that were singed between the member states. JW/NS New GSM providers to be licensed in 2004 SANA’A, Jan 1 (Saba) – More Global System of Mobile telephony (GSM) firms would be able to provide the service in Yemen this year , Director General of the Public Telecommunications Corporation (PTC) said in remarks published Thursday. Eng. Kamal al-Jabri told the 26 September weekly that more firms are expected to join Yemen’s GSM market in August 31, 2004 when the exclusive rights of the local operators Sabaphone and Spacetel-Yemen expire. Meanwhile, al-Jabri said that the Yemen International Telecoms Co. (TeleYemen), which is wholly owned by the Yemeni governments as of January 1, would see a major progress and would provide new services. He said that the leading telecommunications firm France Telecom would run TeleYemen for five years under a contract reached recently. The French company would help restructure the international telecoms in Yemen, produce new services, and provide further international channels for widening the country’s international telephony network. Therefore, al-Jabri said, the PTC intends to downsize tariffs of the international calls. KM/KM SABS