Ali Saleh stresses the importance of strategic dialogue with Washington
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has asserted his country's desire to develop its relations with the US. This was expressed on Thursday during the meeting he held with the US assistant under secretary of state, Ronald Newman.
The Yemeni news agency Sabaa said that during the meeting President Saleh underlined the importance of strategic dialogue to build solid and developed "Yemeni - American relations based on cooperation and mutual respect and interests."
The agency added that the Yemeni president reiterated to the US envoy his country's backing of lifting the embargo imposed on Iraq and his support of the Arab efforts exerted in this regard in light of Iraq's commitment to the implementation of UN resolutions relevant to the Gulf War.
The Yemeni news agency said that Newman expressed the US desire and interest to develop bilateral relations and to give them a push forward for wider areas of cooperation.
The US official, who started his visit to Sanaa on Wednesday, asserted his country's support for the march of democracy and development as well as efforts exerted by Yemen to fight terrorism.
The agency reported that Newman told the Yemeni President that the United States appreciates "Yemen's effective role" during the meeting of the recent Arab foreign ministers and the results expressed in the final statement of the meeting.
Meanwhile, the London-based al-Hayat daily said, quoting well-informed diplomatic sources in Asmara, that the Yemeni President will visit Eritrea in the middle of the current month. This will be the first visit for the Yemeni president since an international court issued its decision that provided for Yemen's sovereignty over the Hanish islands in the Red Sea.
The islands were the essence of conflict between the two countries that was resolved in October 1998.
Eritrean President Assyas Afworki visited Yemen at the beginning of November 1998 after the decision of the international court was released, and his visit was an indication from Eritrea side of normalized relations between the two countries.