6-8 million Yemenis live abroad, send $ 1 billion in remittance

SANA'A, June 22 (Saba) - Yemen plans to conduct comprehensive
surveys for Yemeni expatriates that would focus on their numbers,
jobs, families and activities, and their remittances to their
homeland.

According to the Expatriate Affairs Ministry, between 6-8 million
Yemenis are living in 80 world states including a million people in
the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a half million people in India and
other large communities in countries such as Indonesia and Britain.

The Yemeni expatriates send almost $ 1 billion in remittance a year,
minister of Expatriate Affairs Ahmed Musa'ed Hussein has said.

Surveys on the conditions of the Yemeni expatriates would start next
year, the minister said, adding the project is currently under
process with the Cabinet to approve it in the near future.

The ministry has talked to 62 Yemeni embassies to prepare reports on
the Yemeni communities abroad in an attempt to help them solve
problems they face at sea, land and air transitions while coming
back home.

Hussein also said that the ministry asked the embassies to give
names of administrations of the Yemeni communities and names of
Yemeni businessmen and academic abroad.

In this context, the Yemeni government is currently handling
problems facing investments of Yemeni expatriates in their country
ahead of the third expatriate conference which would be held in
October.

The conference would mark a new start toward activating investment
of Yemeni expatriates in home through establishing the best ways to
help them contribute to the development drive in Yemen.