CIPE Partners Articulate Vision for Reform in Yemen

As part of Yemen's ongoing reform effort, representatives of the private sector and civil society in Yemen met with government officials in Sana’a on Saturday, May 12, to agree on a comprehensive vision for reform. "We appreciate this good work of  the Economic Reform Team in preparing the vision for reforming and focusing on the priorities for development," said Prime Minister Mohammed Basindawa. He noted that since the private sector has already taken concrete steps in this partnership with the government, civil society, and the media, this presses the government to “respond in kind” with a similar effort. The head of the union of Chambers, Mohammed Abdu Saeed Anaam, invited the prime minister to take action to build a framework for partnership between the private sector and the government, indicating that the private sector is open to rebuilding the country and to working with all political parties.

This conference was the result of preparations that began at a CIPE-sponsored private sector conference held at the Dead Sea in Jordan on March 21-24. Attending that earlier conference were CIPE partners in Yemen, Studies and Economic Media Center (SEMC), Human Rights Information and Training Center (HRITC), and Political Development Forum (PDF), and representatives from leading business associations, prominent business leaders, academics, and other experts in Yemen. At that conference, attendees drafted an Economic Vision Statement listing the economic reform priorities that Yemen should focus on during the next phase, and formed a group which they called the Economic Vision Task Force, which was charged with gathering consensus on this economic vision. The economic vision statement was later discussed with private sector representatives and Chambers of Commerce in Sana’a, Taiz, Aden, and Hodeidah. Five economic priorities for development were decided on: security and the rule of law, the constitution, youth and employment, comprehensive public-private partnerships, and pressing infrastructure issues.