Yemen Monitor/Aden/Reuters:
A senior official in Yemen’s internationally recognized government said on Monday that Saudi authorities have agreed to resume fresh Yemeni agricultural and fishery exports after a months-long ban.
The senior official at Yemen’s Ministry of Fisheries in Aden told Reuters, on condition of anonymity, that the ministry had received a response from the relevant Saudi authorities via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to its letter, stating that it would allow the entry of fresh Yemeni fish exports and agricultural products into the Kingdom through the Al-Wadi’a border crossing.
In November, traders told Yemen Monitor that refrigerated trucks loaded with fish were stranded in Yemeni coastal governorates after Saudi Arabia refused to allow them to enter. Previous attempts by government officials to mediate with Saudi officials to allow the entry of fish, as had happened in the previous two years, had failed.
Saudi Arabia is the largest importer of Yemeni fishery exports, with an estimated volume of exports through Al-Wadi’a crossing of about 40,000 tons annually. Fishery export revenues constitute a significant source of foreign exchange for Yemen, and the fisheries sector is one of the country’s most important productive sectors, ranking second in gross domestic product after oil.
