FRENCH COOPERATION IN YEMEN: LONG-STANDING AND DIVERSE

SANA'A, Oct. 25 (Saba)- Yemen and France maintain political,
economic, cultural and scientific cooperation relations.

France supported the unification of Yemen in 1990 and the
preservation of its unity during the civil war in 1994. It played
the role of mediator in the conflict over the Hanish Islands between
Yemen and Eritrea.

Since its reunification, Yemen's bilateral relations with France are
very close. The country has been part of France's Priority
Solidarity Zone (PSZ) since February 2002.

As a tool establishing a multi-year framework for French Public
Development Aid (PDA) to Yemen, this Partnership Framework Document
(DCP) set out the directions for French cooperation in Yemen over
the five years 2007-2011.

France's priorities for aid to Yemen are focused on two main sectors
(agriculture and food safety, on the one side, and infrastructures,
on the other), as well as several cross-cutting sectors, such as:
governance (including decentralised and non-governmental
cooperation), cultural diversity and academic and research
cooperation.

Few days ago, Yemen and France signed two cooperation agreements in
fields of financing small enterprise and supporting agricultural
training and research in Yemen. Under the first agreement, French
Social Fund for Development (SFD) provides euro 700,000 for funding
development projects in order to improve women living conditions.
The SFD has granted Yemen euro 1,000,000 allocated to support 18
projects and 90 non-governmental organizations.

The second agreement is stipulated to provide an amount of YR
35,000,000 for supporting and rehabilitating agricultural
researches. The agreement aims to enhance the role of the
agricultural vocational and technical institutes in Yemen as well as
to develop researches in fighting Dubas bugs that affect palms in
Hadramout governorate. The two agreements were signed by senior
Yemeni official and French ambassador to Yemen Joseph Silva.

In addition, France decided last week to respond to the United
Nations Emergency Appeal for Yemen, by contributing €500,000 to the
war-affected displaced Yemenis in the two northern provinces of
Saada and Amran.

The 3rd Economic and Social Development Plan for Poverty Reduction
(2006-2010) is the framework document for Yemen's development
policy. It is a foundation for the elaboration and implementation of
THE FRAMEWORK DOCUMENT FOR THE FRANCE-YEMEN PARTNERSHIP (2007-2011).

Long-standing and encompassing a large number of areas, France's
cooperation is soundly-anchored in Yemen, where it contributes,
alongside its institutional partners and civil society, to the
country's development, through its action in the following sectors:
anti-poverty and economic and social mainstreaming for the
vulnerable population, consolidation of the rule of law, security
and the decentralisation process, know-how and knowledge transfer
to priority sectors, such as university education and research,
agriculture, vocational training and the development of future
managers in the country, relationship- and exchange-building between
partners from the two countries, in particular in favour of
decentralised and non-governmental cooperation, promotion for
cultural diversity and the cultures in Yemen (French Cultural Centre
in Sana'a and its outpost in Aden).

The Framework Document for the Partnership between France and Yemen
(2007-2011) proposes to build up action programmes from French aid
toward high-priority sectors for the country.

As part of the cooperation initiatives funded by the TOTAL
corporation in the regions where it operates, a collaborative effort
could bring together CIRAD and the Embassy, around a project against
insect pests on palm and date trees, and the creation of an
observatory in the region of Hadramout (District of Saa).

Cooperation between France and Yemen in the academic and research
fields is also long-standing. Its major avenues will be built up,
more particularly university partnerships between the two countries
and higher education for the future elite of Yemen, in France
(support to fellowship programmes for teachers and students) and in
Yemenite universities thanks to the development of high-priority
scientific degree programmes for Yemen (support to inter-university
agreements).

Scientific and research cooperation between the two countries is
also dynamic in the social and human sciences sector, thanks to the
actions developed by the French Centre for Archaeology and Social
Sciences (CEFAS) in Sana'a and its many partners, both French (such
as the National Centre for Scientific Research) or Yemenite
(including the universities of Sana'a and Aden, the National
Department of Antiquities, the National Archives Centre).

In 2006, the French Centre in Sana'a for Archaeology and Social
Sciences (CEFAS) signed an agreement with the University of Sana'a
to promote high-level cooperation in the fields of archaeological,
historical, social science and humanities research.

Benefiting from exceptional material and immaterial cultural
heritage, largely unused and increasingly jeopardised, Yemen wishes
to promote its riches as a vehicle for cultural affirmation and
social cohesion, carrying along with it opportunities to take up the
challenges of job creation, openness to the world and economic
development (tourism).

YA