ID :
128101
Wed, 06/16/2010 - 11:20
Auther :

Yemen has become oil importer country, President says

SANA'A, June 15 (Saba) -
President Ali Abdullah Saleh affirmed on Tuesday that Yemen has become an oil
importer country
due to the country's low oil production and increasing consumption of oil in the
local market.
Saleh, who chaired the government's meeting today, noted that the government should
talk frankly to the people about the reality of support of the oil derivatives,
directing
the government to provide an integrated scientific study on the policy of supporting
the oil derivatives, in which the current spending amounts to more than YR 510
billion
annually.
The continuation in supporting the oil derivatives in the current situation
encourages corruption, Saleh pointed out, adding that solutions should be set out
for this situation
so as to achieve the national interest, including raising wages in general for the
State's employees and supporting the Social Welfare Fund.
President Saleh stressed the importance of moving forward in the efforts of
economic and administrative reforms and rationalizing spending in all fields,
urging the government
to work for the development of fiscal revenues and investment in the fields of oil,
gas, minerals, fisheries, and agriculture, as well as the expansion in the fields of
public
works and roads, electricity and water to serve the development goals.
In addition to, he instructed the government to reconsider the agreement of the
sale of the liquefied natural gas exported through the Yemeni port of Balhaf in
Shabwa province,
so as to cope with the changes of gas prices in the global market and achieve the
national interest.
In this respect, he affirmed the importance of cooperation and coordination
between the government and the Parliament to expedite issuing legislations,
especially those
relevant to the aspects of reforms and the agreements of the exploration for oil,
gas and minerals.
On another hand, President Saleh renewed his call for a serious and responsible
dialog, which serves the nation interest, stressing that the dialog would remain
the best
means to address all issues in the country.
He pointed to the State's trends towards the local governance of large powers and
strengthening the role of local authorities in the provinces to address the
citizens' issues
and accelerate the development efforts in the districts.
In this regard, he alluded to his instructions during his recent meeting with the
parliamentarians and local councils in the provinces of Lahj and Dalei on the
necessity
of holding meetings in the two provinces to discuss the issues that concern citizens
in the two provinces and to take the suitable actions to address those issues.
"The local authority is the key in addressing the citizens' issues", Saleh said,
stressing the importance of supporting the security services to carry out their
role in
maintaining the security and public order in the society.
Concluding his speech, President Saleh emphasized the government to focus on the
economic aspects and investments and improve the administrative performance and to
provide
more jobs to reduce unemployment as well as to develop a long-term development
strategy to recruit all resources in the best manner to serve the goals of
development and
improve the living conditions of citizens.
BA


X