Yemen intends to implement an investment promotion national strategy to boost the national economy, Head of General Investment Authority (GIA) Salah al-Attar has said.

The statement came during the participation of Yemeni delegation in meetings gathered the working group investment promotion project between Economic Cooperation Organization and Development (OECD) and Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) states, which were kicked off last Monday in Tunisia.The strategy is to focus on establishing local plants to produce consumer goods and building materials to replace imports in addition to support all exports, especially to GCC countries to boost balance of payments, strengthen local currency, fix exchange price, al-Attar said.He confirmed the importance of supporting small and middle-sized enterprises in Yemen to realize sustainable social and economic development.He highlighted the significant role the small and middle-sized enterprises play to create job opportunities and provide the local markets' needs and export as well, indicating to the importance of creating a legislative and institutional structure to encourage setting up such enterprises and helping them to get suitable funds and necessary guarantees to succeed.Al-Attar said that Yemen would work in cooperation with OECD and other corporations to implement programs and projects to activate this vital sector.The GIA exerts more efforts in cooperation with private sector and some international financial institutions to establish a fund run by the private sector to finance small and medium-sized enterprises, he said.During the meetings, al-Attar reviewed the reforms and measures implemented by the government for improving investment environment.The meetings discussed topics related to creating policies supporting such enterprises and organizing projects and human resources.