In its 106th joint meeting attended by Yemeni foreign minister Abu Bakr Al-Qirbi, Gulf Cooperation Council Foreign Ministers announced officially on Saturday accepting Yemen as a member of the Gulf Standardization Organization (GSO) and Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC).

During the third joint meeting which involved the Yemeni foreign minister, GCC foreign ministers asked Yemen to complete accession procedures.

The foreign ministers as well demanded the Joint Technical Committee to follow up the results of London Donors Conference held on November 2006 and to look into the volume of performance made so far.

They further asked the committee to hasten studying Yemen's development needs in the economic and social fields, together with setting mechanisms required for boosting investments of private GCC companies and businessmen in Yemen.

In press conference held following the one-day meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh, GCC secretary general Abdu Al-Rahman Al-Attiyah revealed the meeting discussed the situation of Yemeni workforce and hinted that it Gulf countries are to give priority to Yemeni workforce.

Al-Attiyah also mentioned that development in Yemen requires the existence of qualified people and stressed the importance of training Yemenis on Gulf technical institutes to help the country's progress. 

For his part, Qatari foreign minister Ahmed Abdullah Al Mahmoud stressed that GCC is keen about reinforcing its relations with Yemen and hinted the meeting was fruitful, hinting the meeting discussed the mechanisms for supporting development projects in Yemen as well as Yemeni workforce position in GCC countries.

The Qatari official pointed out the meeting was devoted to discuss the volume of performance relating London Donor Conference's resolutions as well as the investment program of the 3rd five-year plan, stressing that some successes have been achieved as for allocating the pledges meant for re-qualifying Yemeni economy to keep pace with GCC economies.

Al-Qirbi praised the relations linking Yemen and the GCC, saying that joint meetings with Gulf State officials had a great impact on development plans in his country.