The Voice Of Somaliland: Yemen and Somaliland Sign Fishery Agreement

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Yemen and Somaliland Sign Fishery Agreement

Yemen and Somaliland Sign Fishery Agreement

SANA'A - A cooperation agreement on fishing industry and rights was signed on Sunday between Yemen and Somaliland.
The agreement follows the seizure of several Yemeni fishermen and their boats by Somaliland forces, who they claim were in Somaliland's territorial waters. Officials from Somaliland's capital Hargiesa visited Sana'a to solve the fishing dispute.

The agreement includes deals on fishery cooperation, particularly in the exchange of information, investment, organizing the fishing processes, and offering training opportunities to Somali workers.

The Yemeni Minister of Fisheries Mahmoud Ibrahim Saghiri signed the agreement with the Minister of Fisheries and Ports for Somaliland, Saeed Mohammad Raji.

Saghiri said that many problems would be solved by the deal, pointing out that his ministry was interested in strengthening economic and trade ties in the fishing industry, as well as to work together to stop piracy in the Red Sea.

A former British protectorate in the north-west of former Somalia, Somaliland split from the rest of Somalia after a bloody civil war in 1991. Unlike much of the region in southern Somalia, Somaliland has succeeded in establishing peace and begun to rebuild the country left shattered by fierce fighting.

Meanwhile a joint trade company is to be set up between Yemen and the Somali city of Bosaso, following a memorandum signed on Sunday.

The company will export of Yemeni products such as drugs to Somali markets. Until final measures to set up the company are made, the products will be exported through the Yemen Economic Corporation. Yemen will import animals and other Somali products.
The company will have a naval escort to protect the exports between the two countries.

The memo was signed by the Deputy Chairman of the Yemeni Economic Corporation Mohammad Nagi al-Abud, and Abdul Al-Razaq Ali Saeed, the Somali Minister of the Trade.
In other talks, Rashad al-Alimi, the Deputy Premier and Minister of the Interior, met on Sunday with a United Nation's team to discuss conditions in the wider Somali region.

Al-Alimi discussed the "negative impact" the high numbers of Somali refugees fleeing the war-torn southern regions of Somalia had on the "stability and economy of Yemen".

The two sides discussed problem of arms smuggling and marine piracy, in addition to illegal immigrants from Somalia to Yemen.

Al-Alimi reviewed the efforts made by the Yemeni Coast Guard Authority to tackle these problems, stressing Yemen's efforts to reduce weapons smuggling.

Yemen Observer Newspaper

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