Government officials, businessmen, economists, academic researchers, and specialists in the field of international and inland transport in Yemen called for moving inspections of commercial ships to Yemeni ports, cutting cost and time.
Participants in the seminar organized by Studies & Economic Media Center (SEMC) , in cooperation with the German’s Friedrich Ebert Foundation, on December 8, in Aden, called for ending the financial levies by security points on cargo trucks, doubling the commodity prices and burdening Yemeni people economically.
The seminar has also recommended to assess the destroyed infrastructure of the transportation sector in Yemen, including airports, sea ports, land ports, and road network, as they are the most prominent affected by the war that has been going on in the country for nearly nine years, and to develop a short-term plans to recover the transportation sector and restore its activity.
At the opening of the seminar, the CEO of Studies & Economic Media Center, Mohammed Ismail, spoke that the objectives of the Seminar are to come up with recommendations that contribute to removing barriers of the inland and international transport sector, in a way that alleviates the suffering of people , and helps the private sector in overcoming the challenges it faces. “This seminar comes within the framework of the efforts made by SEMC to contribute to resolving many problems related to the economic aspect, “ added Ismail.
Aden Governor’s Advisor for Investment Affairs, Alawi Baharmoz, spoke about the importance of the transport sector and the need to shed light on such issues for discussion with the aim of finding real solutions to its problems, and their effects on the living and economic conditions of people .
The Vice-President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Aden, Mohammed Al-Masab stressed that the recovery of private sector work needs stability and a state of law and order, so that it can contribute to serving people, hoping that the voice of the seminar’s recommendations reach the international community to resolve the problems facing the state in this regard.
For his part, the Acting Non-Resident Representative and Director of Programs at the Friedrich Ebert-Stiftung, Mahmoud Qayyah pointed out the problems facing the transport sector in Yemen by saying, “the problem is not only with the cost of marine transport insurance to Yemen, but also with the cost of inspection outside Yemen, imposed by the Arab coalition and the United Nations on the ships heading to the Yemeni ports.”
Qayyah added that one of the problems facing the transport sector is also the mounting unofficial financial levies, whose fate is unknown, where all of which are added to the prices of commodities that burden people, stressing that the levies have become today a “mafia” and organized gangs expelling any investment opportunities in the country.
During the opening, the head of the Public Authority for Land Transport Affairs, Fares Shaafel spoke about the multiple barriers facing the transport sector, by saying, “the delay of commercial ships in the inspection ports outside Yemen causes limitless problems.”
Shaafal pointed out that the Heavy Transport Syndicate in Aden exercises a clear monopoly in light of the inability of traders to transport their goods from the sea ports, and the absence of professional transport companies to compete in the market of inland transport.
The Seminar reviewed three working papers. The first was presented by Khaldoun Abdullah on the effects of the war on the international transport sector. The second paper was by Dr. Mahdi Bamarhool on Challenges of internal transport and the economic impacts of the war on the transport sector in Yemen. The third paper was presented by Radwan Farea on the social and humanitarian impacts on Yemenis due to the deteriorating inland transport network, in light of hard moving patients and delivering services and basic commodities to villages, food insecurity as a result of the suspension of relief aid, and the high costs of transportation.
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