New York Meeting Aims to Develop Strategic Partnership between Yemen, Int’l Community 

Yemeni Prime Minister Dr. Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak meets with British Ambassador to Yemen Abda Sharif. (Saba file photo)
Yemeni Prime Minister Dr. Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak meets with British Ambassador to Yemen Abda Sharif. (Saba file photo)
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New York Meeting Aims to Develop Strategic Partnership between Yemen, Int’l Community 

Yemeni Prime Minister Dr. Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak meets with British Ambassador to Yemen Abda Sharif. (Saba file photo)
Yemeni Prime Minister Dr. Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak meets with British Ambassador to Yemen Abda Sharif. (Saba file photo)

The Yemeni government is seeking to forge a real strategic partnership with the international community and garner political and economic support for its reform plans.

Yemeni Prime Minister Dr. Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak traveled to the United States at the head of a delegation to take part in an international ministerial meeting aimed at backing the legitimate Yemeni government.

The meeting, held in partnership with Britain, will be hosted at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Monday. The UN Security Council is also set to meet on the same day.

British Ambassador to Yemen Abda Sharif said last week that Yemeni-British coordination is ongoing to hold the New York meeting. Some 30 regional and international parties are expected to attend.

She hoped the meeting would mark the beginning of real partnership between Yemen and the international community, adding, however, that a lot of work remains to be done.

The conference is a step forward in that direction, she stated.

Bin Mubarak said his government will present to regional and international partners its vision for Yemen’s economic recovery and stability and its plan for the next two years.

The government is prioritizing urgent reforms, he stressed in remarks to the media.

The ministerial meeting demonstrates the international community’s commitment to supporting the government and its efforts to achieve stability and security in Yemen, he went on to say.

It sends a “strong message, especially amid the rapid regional and international changes,” he noted.

The PM is scheduled to hold meetings with representatives of friendly and fraternal nations on the sidelines of the meeting. He is also expected to hold talks with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and senior UN officials, as well as officials from the International Monetary Fund.



Mother of Missing Journalist Austin Tice Says Trump Team Offered Help in Search 

Debra Tice, mother of journalist Austin Tice who disappeared while reporting in Syria in 2012, meets with Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Damascus, Syria, January 19, 2025. (Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham/Handout via Reuters)
Debra Tice, mother of journalist Austin Tice who disappeared while reporting in Syria in 2012, meets with Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Damascus, Syria, January 19, 2025. (Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham/Handout via Reuters)
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Mother of Missing Journalist Austin Tice Says Trump Team Offered Help in Search 

Debra Tice, mother of journalist Austin Tice who disappeared while reporting in Syria in 2012, meets with Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Damascus, Syria, January 19, 2025. (Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham/Handout via Reuters)
Debra Tice, mother of journalist Austin Tice who disappeared while reporting in Syria in 2012, meets with Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Damascus, Syria, January 19, 2025. (Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham/Handout via Reuters)

The mother of American journalist Austin Tice made her first visit to Syria in almost a decade Monday and said that the administration of President-elect Donald Trump had offered support to help find her son, who disappeared in 2012.

Debra Tice made the remarks at a news conference in Damascus in her first visit to the country since insurgents toppled President Bashar al-Assad last month. She did not present any new findings in the ongoing search.

Austin Tice disappeared near the Syrian capital in 2012, and has not been heard from since other than a video released weeks later that showed him blindfolded and held by armed men. Tens of thousands are believed to have gone missing in Syria since 2011, when countrywide protests against Assad spiraled into a devastating civil war.

Outgoing US President Joe Biden told reporters at the White House in December that he believes Washington can bring Tice back, while admitting that “we have no direct evidence” of his well-being.

“I have great hope that the Trump administration will sincerely engage in diligent work to bring Austin home.” Tice said. “His people have already reached out to me. I haven’t experienced that for the last four years.”

Syria's former government had publicly denied that it was holding him, but Tice hopes she will find him with the help of the new leadership. In December, she said the family had information from an unidentified source that her son was alive and well. She said Monday she still believes he is alive and in good health.

“Austin, if you can somehow hear this, I love you. I know you’re not giving up, and neither am I,” she said.

Tice said she had a productive meeting with Ahmad al-Sharaa, the leader of Syria’s new administration, who she said was “dedicated and determined” to bring back Austin and the others missing in the country.

She also visited two military intelligence prisons in Syria, known for their mass incarceration and systematic use of torture, which she described as an “unbelievably, horrible nightmare.”

Tice, who is from Houston, has had his work published by The Washington Post, McClatchy newspapers and other outlets.