Donors pledge 6.4 bln USD in aid to stabilize Yemen economy

An international donors' meeting held in Saudi capital of Riyadh on Tuesday pledged 6.4 billion U.S. dollars of aid to Yemen to help stabilizing the impoverished country after a year-long political upheaval, the Yemeni official Saba news agency reported. "The donors' countries provided a total number of 6.4 billion dollars to fund Yemen's transitional development program during the period 2012-2014," Saba quoted a statement of Riyadh's meeting as saying. Representatives of 30 donor countries and regional and international organizations attended the meeting. Meanwhile, some other donor countries pledged to announce their financial aid to Yemen during another international donors' meeting that is scheduled to be held in New York on Sept. 27, said the statement. Yemen said last week that it will ask the donor's countries for about 11 billion dollars to support a program for stabilizing its economy and the currency. The unrest-ridden Arab state is undergoing a political transition supported by the international community after a year- long street protest that toppled its long-time leader Ali Abdullah Saleh last year. The donors' meeting in Riyadh was the second of its kind since Saleh' s deputy Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, was elected in February as the new president for a two-year transitional term under a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) deal backed by the United Nations. On May 23, oil-rich Saudi Arabia granted an aid of 3.25 billion dollars to Yemen during the meeting of Friends of Yemen in Riyadh. The Friend of Yemen group was set up as an international donors ' conference in London in January 2010 to help Yemen overcome economic and security challenges. Hadi has promised to stabilize his country's economy and strengthen fighting against insurgency waged by the Yemeni-based al-Qaida branch.