FROM EIR DAILY ALERT
Yemen’s Foreign Ministry Celebrates Silk Road on Chinese-Language Day, Praises Schiller Institute
April 23, 2018 (EIRNS)—The Yemeni Foreign Ministry in Sanaa hosted a major event April 22, to celebrate the International Chinese-Language Day. The event which was co-organized by the Ministry and the friend of the Schiller Institute, Fouad Al-Ghaffari’s Yemeni Advisory Office for Coordination with the BRICS (YAOCB), was keynoted by Foreign Minister Hisham Sharaf, who referenced the China-Arab World Policy Paper (2016), pledging to cooperate with China to join the Belt and Road Initiative. Sharaf, spoke in front of massive banner carrying the Foreign Ministry’s logo, the World Land-Bridge map as designed by the Schiller Institute, and pictures of important persons such as Helga Zepp-LaRouche and a text in Arabic and Chinese stating: “Toward Cooperation with China To Eliminate Poverty.”
The Foreign Minister thanked Mrs. LaRouche in the conclusion of his statement saying:
“I would like to personally salute Mrs. Helga LaRouche, Chairman of the Schiller Institute, who is making great efforts in her campaign of solidarity with us here in Sanaa and who is calling for ending the military aggression, reconstruction of Yemen and making it a pearl in the necklace of the New Silk Road and the World Land-Bridge.”
In his speech, Sharaf commended the project launched by the YAOCB and Al-Ghaffari to put together a special report for reconstruction of Yemen and connecting it to the BRI, calling it “The Happy Miracle, which we hope will be a launching pad for an international reconstruction conference.” The projects the minister referred to is a special report called “Operation Felix: Reconstruction of Yemen and Connection to the New Silk Road,” which is a Schiller Institute report being composed in collaboration with the YAOCB and the Yemeni General Investment Authority. It is scheduled to be released in a conference to be held in Sanaa in May.
The Minister also emphasized that Yemen is following with interest the coming BRICS 10th Summit in South Africa, and the Summit meeting of the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) to be held in China in September 2018.
“When we talk about moving towards China and the New Silk Road, we mean a move towards a multi-polar and economically and politically inclusive world. We realize that we are a nation which is rich with natural resources, but we need the financial capabilities and know-how to be able to utilize this wealth.”
Fouad Al-Ghaffari gave the audience a general outline of the reconstruction plan and connecting Yemen to the New Silk Road. He started by thanking the Schiller Institute and Helga Zepp-LaRouche, for their great efforts in support of Yemen. He also showed the first map of the Yemeni Development Corridors, which will be a key element of the report. The audience, according to a report he gave to EIR, reacted with great optimism and massive eagerness to see the reconstruction report when it is complete.
Minister Hisham Sharaf is a member of the General People’s Congress (GPC) party. The GPC together with Ansarullah (Houthis) are in one coalition running the affairs of the capital and territories of Yemen under its control.
The humanitarian situation in Yemen continues to deteriorate as a result of the Saudi war and total blockade against the country. However, militarily, it has come to a stalemate, as the Saudi coalition is unable to break through in any of the many fronts it has opened. The UN special envoy released a short report last week on his efforts to relaunch the peace talks, failing to mention the Saudis, but with optimism that the Houthi-GPC coalition in Sanaa have expressed their willingness to sit at the negotiations table again. Recently an EU diplomatic delegation visited Sanaa and met with the acting president Saleh Al-Sammad. There are unconfirmed rumors of secret negotiations in which Russia and China might be involved.
