Yemen, AFESD discuss $50 mln loan agreement for roads

SANA'A, July 04 (Saba) - Yemen and Arab Fund for Economic and Social
Development (AFESD) discussed here on Saturday arrangements for
signing a loan agreement of $50 million to finance the Rural Roads
Development Program.

The agreement approved during the visit of Public Works and Road
Minister Umar al-Kurshomi to Kuwait last week is scheduled to be
signed next Thursday in Sana'a.

The arrangements were discussed during a meeting gathered
al-Kurshomi and AFESD's delegation led by AFESD's experts Sami
Iskander and Osama al-Saqqaf.

The meeting dealt with the AFESD-funded rural road projects that
have been already executed and those are currently under
implementation.

Al-Kurshomi voiced his appreciation for the fund's support to
execute the rural road projects in various districts of Yemen,
describing the fund's role in Yemen as pioneer.

For his part, AFESD's expert Iskander praised the projects in the
rural roads field as roads are one of means for reducing poverty via
saving transport fees and help in marketing the rural areas'
products.

He indicated the importance of justice in distributing the projects
to include the different areas in the country and that is what the
delegation found during its visit to some projects.

Iskander affirmed that the fund will keep on executing the largest
number of rural roads, stressing on the significance of maintaining
such roads periodically to ensure their permanence.

BA/AF