During his meeting with US Special Envoy.. President Al-Zubaidi stresses need for urgent steps to address economic situation

The President of the Southern Transitional Council, President Aidarous Qassem Al-Zubaidi, stressed the priority of taking urgent and effective steps to address the deteriorating economic, living and services conditions in the governorates of the South by restructuring economic institutions, including the Central Bank, the Supreme Economic Council, the National Anti-Corruption Authority, and the Central Organization for Control and Accountability, and reforming financial and monetary policies.

 This came during his meeting on Thursday, in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, with Mr. Timothy Lenderking, the special envoy of the United States of America to Yemen, and Ms. Cathy Westley, the acting US ambassador, in which President Al-Zubaidi stressed the importance of moving forward in completing the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement, and reforming and restructuring legitimacy system on manner that leads to the mobilization and organization of all efforts to confront the Houthi militia and terrorist groups, and to get out of the political impasse status that serves no one but Iran and its tools in the South, and Yemen, and the region in general.

 The meeting was attended by two members of the Presidency of the Southern Transitional Council, Dr. Nasser Al-Khubaji, Head of the Negotiations Affairs Unit, and Ali Al-Kathiri, Deputy Head of the Negotiations Affairs Unit, in addition to Anis Al-Sharafi, Head of the Political Affairs and Planning section in the General Directorate of Foreign Affairs, in which President Al-Zubaidi expressed the support of the Southern Transitional Council to the efforts of the Special Envoy of the United States of America and the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to stop the war and push for a comprehensive peace process that accommodates all parties and issues, in the forefront of which are the active forces on the ground, pointing out to the need for the South, led by the Southern Transitional Council, to have an active presence in the design of any political process that leads to a comprehensive peace path that fulfills our people's national aspirations.

 President Al-Zubaidi praised the pivotal role of the Arab Coalition led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and with the active participation of the United Arab Emirates, alongside our people in the South and Yemen, which was reflected through military, security, and humanitarian support in confronting the Houthi militias and terrorist organizations, pointing to the threats and dangers posed by Iranian expansion to the International shipping lines in Bab Al-Mandab and the Gulf of Aden by the Houthi militia, stressing that the South, and its armed forces, are fighting a battle against the forces of terrorism on behalf of all the free people of the world.

 For his part, Mr. Lenderking expressed his appreciation for the position of the Southern Transitional Council to positively interact with all efforts aimed at completing the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement and pushing for a comprehensive peace process, stressing that it is time to make progress on completing the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement to confront common threats, address the economic crisis, and consolidate the pillars of security and stability.

The meeting was attended, from the American side, by Ms. Ellison Miner, Senior Adviser to the Special Envoy, and Mr. Chris Coles, the Political and Economic Officer at the US Embassy in Yemen.