SANA'A, Dec. 05 (Saba)- Prime Minister Ali Mujawar renewed call for tourist national and foreign investment for contribution in setting up more projects in Yemen.

He said in the opening speech of the 2nd Consultative Meeting of Leaderships of Tourist Business, kicked off its activities here on Wednesday under the motto "Enhancing Role of Local Authority in Improving Tourism," that the government depends on this promising sector for more improvement and growth for serving interest of the society and reducing poverty.

He confirmed that the government is working on increasing support to this sector by making tourism as one of the promising economic sectors in the Five-Year Plan for development and poverty alleviation 2006-2010.

He hoped that this meeting would tackle issues practically and frankly and to reach to recommendations which could be implemented during the year 2008, saying that the projects presented in the meeting are considered positive indicators for serving tourist growth.

For his part, Minister of Tourism Nabil al-Faqih considered this meeting an occasion for boosting role of local authority in improving tourism, pointing that tourism can play a supportive role in Yemen's economy.

The meeting, which is participated by 22 participants of leaderships of tourist business, discusses topics and paper works on tourist situation in Yemen and enhancing role of local authority in developing tourism.

The first session discussed a report on Tourism Ministry's activities during 2007 while paper works presented in the second session focused on boosting role of local authority in promoting tourism.

MS/AM

Saba