Yemeni PM Declares War on Corruption at Land, Air, Sea Ports

The Yemen PM meets with ministers and officials on Sunday. (Saba)
The Yemen PM meets with ministers and officials on Sunday. (Saba)
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Yemeni PM Declares War on Corruption at Land, Air, Sea Ports

The Yemen PM meets with ministers and officials on Sunday. (Saba)
The Yemen PM meets with ministers and officials on Sunday. (Saba)

Faced with a new drop in the value of the Yemeni rial, Prime minister Maeen Abdulmalik said land, air and sea ports are among the arteries of the national economy and that the government will activate all anti-corruption systems to control state revenues.

On Sunday, the exchange rate of the Yemeni rial stood at 850 to the dollar in government-controlled areas. The dip follows the war-torn country’s currency having registered a slight recovery after the newly formed government arriving in the interim capital, Aden.

Yemeni bankers blamed the policy adopted by the Iran-backed Houthi militias on fighting the circulation of new banknotes for the deterioration of the rial’s price.

The Houthis’ outlawing of the use and possession of crisp new rial bills issued by the legitimate government is a form of economic vandalism, they said.

What the national economy is passing through requires building a real economy that does not depend only on conventional revenues, Abdulmalik said at a meeting on national ports in Aden.

The meeting gathered the concerned ministries and thrashed out the relationship between them and local authorities and discussed means of improving local and state revenues.

It approved the formation of a joint committee tasked with field visits to all ports and crossings to address problems and assess performances in a way which guarantees improving port operations, unifying revenue collection measures and putting an end to overlapping powers.

According to the Saba News Agency, the joint committee will be composed from representatives of the ministries of finance, interior, transport and defense.
Attendees at the meeting put forward a number of proposals to assist the joint committee in performing its work within an integrated approach between ministries and concerned authorities.

They also focused on ways for developing a healthy relationship with the local authorities without giving way to violations, such as smuggling.



Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)

Italy plans to send an ambassador back to Syria after a decade-long absence, the country’s foreign minister said, in a diplomatic move that could spark divisions among European Union allies.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, speaking in front of relevant parliamentary committees Thursday, announced Rome’s intention to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria to prevent Russia from monopolizing diplomatic efforts in the Middle Eastern country.

Moscow is considered a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has remained in power despite widespread Western isolation and civilian casualties since the start of Syria’s civil war in March 2011.

Peaceful protests against the Assad government — part of the so-called “Arab Spring” popular uprisings that spread across some of the Middle East — were met by a brutal crackdown, and the uprising quickly spiraled into a full-blown civil war.

The conflict was further complicated by the intervention of foreign forces on all sides and a rising militancy, first by al-Qaida-linked groups and then the ISIS group until its defeat on the battlefield in 2019.

The war, which has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million, is now largely frozen, despite ongoing low-level fighting.

The country is effectively carved up into areas controlled by the Damascus-based government of Assad, various opposition groups and Syrian Kurdish forces.

In the early days of the conflict, many Western and Arab countries cut off relations with Syria, including Italy, which has since managed Syria-related diplomacy through its embassy in Beirut.

However, since Assad has regained control over most of the territory, neighboring Arab countries have gradually restored relations, with the most symbolically significant move coming last year when Syria was re-admitted to the Arab League.

Tajani said Thursday the EU’s policy in Syria should be adapted to the “development of the situation,” adding that Italy has received support from Austria, Croatia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus and Slovakia.

However, the US and allied countries in Europe have largely continued to hold firm in their stance against Assad’s government, due to concerns over human rights violations.