THREE JAPANESE-FUNDED PROJECTS INAUGURATED IN ADEN

ADEN, March 30 (Saba) - Yemen and Japan inaugurated here on Tuesday three projects in Aden governorate.

General Secretary of Aden governorate Abdul-Karim Shaef and Japanese ambassador to Yemen Mitsunori Namba have attended the inauguration and handing over ceremonies for three projects of "Rehabilitating al-Burayqah Mentally Retarded Children School", "Improving Medical Services in Mother and Child Health Centre" and "Expanding Koud al-Othmani Health Centre' in Sheikh Othman District.

The first project at al-Burayqah school was to rehabilitate the 1960s building, aiming at providing safe and comfortable study environment for 72 disable students in the school worth at $85,287.

The second project was building an additional medical centre and the third one was purchasing medical equipments for mother and child care and laboratory rooms. Both are in Sheikh Othman and were worth $ 150,000 granted by the Japanese government in 2008 and 2009.

They will improve daily medical services for 90,000 local inhabitants in Sheikh Othman district.

Meanwhile, Governor of Aden Adnan al-Jeffri met on Monday with Japanese ambassador to Yemen Mitsunori Namba.

Al-Jeffri and Namba discussed a series of grant aids from the Japanese Government in the past, and means of further developing collaboration between the Embassy of Japan and the Governorate of Aden.

The Ambassador also visited the Aden Cleaning Fund, to which the Japanese Government had provided numbers of garbage trucks and walky-talky devices to enhance cleaning activities in the governorate in 2007.

The Japanese Government's scheme called "Grant Assistance for Grass-roots Human Security Projects" has been assisting in the fields of drinking water, environmental, health care, education including disable and girls over the last 10 years in Yemen.

During this Japanese fiscal year (April 2009 – March 2010) Japan funded 18 projects in Yemen amounting to about $ 1.5 million under the abovementioned Japanese scheme.

AH/AF