SANAA, Yemen, May 30 (UPI) -- Yemen is hoping its close relations with Saudi Arabia will pave the way for it to join the oil-rich six-member Gulf Cooperation Council.
Official sources said Tuesday the visit by Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdel Aziz to Yemen, which starts Wednesday, will further boost bilateral relations which warmed when the neighboring countries settled border disputes.
The sources said the final maps for the Yemeni-Saudi border will be signed during Prince Sultan's visit, "constituting a real achievement for boosting the two countries' stability and opening the way to the best of relations and Saudi support to prepare Yemen to join the Gulf organization."
Border disputes have been a source of tensions in Yemen-Saudi relations since the 1934 war.
Under the border demarcation agreement signed in 2000, Yemen recovered some 15,444 square miles and Saudi Arabia got three disputed southern regions.
GCC Secretary-General Abdel Rahman Attiya said Monday Saudi Arabia and the other member countries are keen to activate cooperation with Yemen and rehabilitate its economy as a prelude to granting it membership.
Yemeni observers and economists projected a better economic future as a result of the breakthrough in relations with Riyadh.
Economic writer Ahmed Ghurab told United Press International that "settling the file of (the) Saudi-Yemeni border ushers in a new phase of close relations between the two countries and boosts special cooperation in addition to raising hopes and chances that Yemen joins the GCC."
