YEMEN TAKES STEPS TO IMPROVE INVESTMENT: AL-ARHABI SAYS

SANA'A, May 30 (Saba) - The Government has made unremitting efforts
to improve the investment environment, including the law of Private
Economic Zones (PEZ), a senior Yemeni official said on Sunday.

Chairing a meeting of the ministerial committee for economic zones,
Planning and International Cooperation Minister Abdul-Karim
al-Arhabi said that the government's efforts would contribute to
promoting the development in local communities and activating the
partnership between the government bodies and the private sector.

He also noted to the significance of the PEZ in attracting
investments, creating jobs for youth and pushing the development
process in Yemen.

"Through applying the national reforms agenda, the government seeks
to develop the investment environment via issuing a PEZ law and a
law to regulate the partnership with the private sector", he added.

The Minister confirmed the significance of preparing a national
policy for the PEZ and adopting the best international practices in
managing these zones.

During the meeting, the World Bank's International Finance
Corporation (IFC) gave a detailed presentation on the PEZ law
prepared by the Ministry and the government.

The Government's observations on the PEZ draft law, that aims to
increase the private sector participation in developing the PEZ,
were also reviewed in the meeting.

It is worth to mention that Yemen participated in an international
workshop held last week in the Egyptian capital Cairo. The workshop
dealt with the best practices in private economic zones in addition
to reviewing several countries experiences and achievements in
drawing investments by the promotion for these economic zones.

FJ/YA