Friends of Yemen Ministerial Meeting

Thursday 24th May 2012 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Alistair Burt)]

I am pleased to inform the House that on 23 May in Riyadh, I co-chaired, with my right hon. Friend the Minister of State for International Development, a successful meeting of the Friends of Yemen. This was the first meeting at ministerial level for nearly two years. It confirmed the strong political commitment of the international community to support Yemen through its process of transition, leading to elections in 2014. Key announcements were also made on humanitarian aid to Yemen and the date of a Yemen donor conference.

Monday’s appalling terrorist attack in central Sana’a underlines the security challenges and instability facing President Hadi and his Government as they seek to rebuild Yemen following last year’s political upheavals and years of under-development. Friends expressed their condolences to victims and their families and reaffirmed our commitment to helping Yemen tackle the shared threat of insecurity and violent extremism. Supporting political and economic reform and tackling Yemen’s deepening humanitarian crisis requires equal determination and will be vital to Yemen’s long-term stability and security. This meeting was an opportunity to take stock of Yemen’s achievements to date, reaffirm our support, review Yemen’s transition plans, and plan for concrete forms of assistance and future action.

Yemen has made significant progress in implementing the initiative brokered the Gulf Co-operation Council, not least the inauguration of its first new Head of State in 33 years. We have also seen the forming of a power-sharing Government, the beginning of a process of national dialogue, and plans for Yemeni-led military and economic restructuring.

The deepening humanitarian situation was rightly high on the agenda and we expressed a clear commitment to addressing acute need in Yemen. The UK announced an additional £28 million of aid towards the UN humanitarian appeal, which will provide emergency food to up to 250,000 people, life-saving nutrition for 150,000 children and safe water to 68,000 people affected by conflict. And collectively over £2.5 billion of economic assistance was announced. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia pledged almost £2 billion. It is important that the group now meets the expectations of Yemenis by providing necessary support resulting in real improvements to their lives, including basic services, employment, security, good governance, and political inclusion. The group welcomed the agreement by the kingdom of Saudi Arabia to host a donor meeting in Riyadh at the end of June. The Friends decided to meet again in September in New York.