SANAA, Yemen, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- A U.N. development official told the Yemeni government it would stand by the country as it works to advance its political processes.
Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi met in Sanaa with the Yemeni coordinator for the U.N. Development Program, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.
UNDP in July announced it was working in support of $4.4 million worth of development projects meant to restore livelihoods in post-conflict areas of the country.
"Qirbi hailed the role of the United Nations in Yemen, renewing his ministry's readiness to offer all necessary facilities for the UN office and its subsidiaries to do their role," a statement from the official Saba News Agency in Yemen said Thursday.
Yemen was the subject of a regional terrorism alert issued in early August by the U.S. State Department. More than a dozen U.S. embassies across the region were closed temporarily. The State Department said the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa was opened for some services last weekend.
Yemen downplayed the security risk, highlighting diplomatic outreach efforts in the capital city.
Yemeni President Abdo Rabu Mansour Hadi met last month with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who welcomed the more than 500 delegates taking part in the political transformation under way in Yemen. Progress on establishing democracy, Kerry said, was "extraordinary."
