YEMENI-ITALIAN STATE TALKS CONCLUDED IN ROME

ROME, May 12 (Saba) - Yemeni-Italian official talks co-chaired by Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi and the Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini were concluded on Wednesday in Rome, Italy.

During the talks, The Italian Minister affirmed the readiness of Italy to carry out the rest of the stages of the Radar Network System to protect the Yemeni coasts and reinforce the capacities of Yemeni coastguards, in addition to encourage investments between the two countries.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini accentuated the necessity to work together with the Yemeni government to prepare well for the coming ministerial meeting of the Yemen's Friends Group to be held in Riyadh.

Al-Qirbi valued the Italian support, especially the Italian call to establish Yemen's friends group, which was adopted by London conference, valuing the Italian supportive attitude towards Yemen's unity, security and stability.

Al-Qirbi and Frattini touched on the situation in Somalia, stressing their commitments to the stabilization of Somalia and supporting its government as well as pushing forwards the Middle East peace process.

After the talks, a press conference was held, during which the two ministers talked about discussions in the talk session and the two countries' efforts to enhance the bilateral relations.

On the other hand, al-Qirbi held talks in Rome with the Italian Minister of Interior on the mutual security cooperation.

The Foreign Minister has also visited the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), holding talks with the FAO officials over the aspects cooperation between Yemen and the organization. He appreciated the FAO assistance to Yemen to combat poverty and the negative impacts of the climate change.

In a related context, al-Qirbi held talks with the Deputy Executive Director World Food Programme (WFP) on the current cooperation between Yemen and WFP.

They also reviewed the Yemeni requirements from the WFP to tackle the needs of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), African refugees and impacts of foodstuffs prices hikes.

Al-Qirbi also has visited the University of Rome "La Sapienza". He held talks with the University's rector on the cultural cooperation between the Italian University and Yemeni ones.

AF/AF