 |
Roundup: Mahathir's Visit to Yemen Strengthens Bilateral Ties
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad concluded his four-day official visit to Yemen Saturday afternoon, setting new ground for boosting bilateral ties.
Mahathir, who arrived in Sana'a on Wednesday evening, had a tight program in Yemen which, apart from Sana'a, took him to port city of Aden, visiting the Aden Free Trade Zone.
His trip to Yemen, a country of 18 million people, is to reciprocate the visit by Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Salleh to Malaysia in 1998.
On the second day of the visit, Mahathir held talks with his Yemeni counterpart Abdul Kader Ba Jammal, discussing bilateral relations and international issues of common interest, before proceeding with the bilateral delegation meeting. In addition, he called on Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Salleh, and met with members of the Yemeni Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
During the visit, the two governments signed two memoranda of understanding, one relating to the setting up of the Malaysia- Yemen Joint Commission headed by their foreign ministers, and the other is in the area of civil service cooperation and training.
Besides the strengthening of the cooperation between the two governments, 40 Malaysian businessmen in the Prime Minister's entourage had the opportunity to look at various fields for trade and joint ventures with their Yemeni counterparts.
AIROD, a Malaysian company, sought the possibility of renewing its contract to maintain aircraft belonging to the Yemeni air force.
Malaysia national Petroleum Company (Petronas) explored the possibility of involvement in oil exploration in Yemen. In addition, the Malaysian businessmen also studied possibility of investing in Yemeni port facilities and other businesses.
However, at present the bilateral trade is still small, leaving much room for expansion. It stood at 260 million ringgit (68.42 million U.S. dollars) last year and was largely in Kuala Lumpur's favor.
The main Malaysian exports to Yemen are palm oil, saw timber, plywood, electrical goods and consumer products while Yemen exports to Malaysia crude oil, rawhide, frozen seafood and fruits.
On the other hand, Yemen which straddles West Asia and Africa, could be a springboard to launch Malaysian products into the region which has a market of 150 million people, including countries like Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Eritrea and Somalia.
This was in line with Malaysia's plan to diversify the markets for its products to cushion any slowdown in demand for Malaysian goods among its traditional trading partners.
On the mutual beneficial ties, Mahathir said during the visit that by forging closer relations, Malaysia and Yemen had a lot to gain in trade and industry as well as in international affairs.
Malaysia was not only keen to sell products but also buy goods from Yemen and its other trading partners, he said, adding "we believe in making our trading partners rich. To make them rich, we need to buy from them, if they are poor, they can't buy from us."
In This Section
|