SANA'A, July 04 (Saba) - Yemen and Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) discussed here on Saturday arrangements for signing a loan agreement of $50 million to finance the Rural Roads Development Program.

The agreement approved during the visit of Public Works and Road Minister Umar al-Kurshomi to Kuwait last week is scheduled to be signed next Thursday in Sana'a.

The arrangements were discussed during a meeting gathered al-Kurshomi and AFESD's delegation led by AFESD's experts Sami Iskander and Osama al-Saqqaf.

The meeting dealt with the AFESD-funded rural road projects that have been already executed and those are currently under implementation.

Al-Kurshomi voiced his appreciation for the fund's support to execute the rural road projects in various districts of Yemen, describing the fund's role in Yemen as pioneer.

For his part, AFESD's expert Iskander praised the projects in the rural roads field as roads are one of means for reducing poverty via saving transport fees and help in marketing the rural areas' products.

He indicated the importance of justice in distributing the projects to include the different areas in the country and that is what the delegation found during its visit to some projects.

Iskander affirmed that the fund will keep on executing the largest number of rural roads, stressing on the significance of maintaining such roads periodically to ensure their permanence.

BA/AF