The foreign ministers of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Yemen recently held a meeting in New York with the heads of leading humanitarian agencies to discuss partnership in delivering humanitarian aid to the Yemeni people.

Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Foreign Minister, along with Adel Al Jubeir of Saudi Arabia, Khalid bin Mohammed Al Attiyah of Qatar and Riyad Yassin of Yemen, emphasised that the objective of the meeting was to coordinate efforts, increase efficiency and explore existing challenges to delivering humanitarian assistance within Yemen.

Shaikh Abdullah reaffirmed the UAE's readiness to have all proposals carefully evaluated by the relevant entities.

The foreign ministers underlined their commitment to achieving stability and prosperity in Yemen as well as alleviating the suffering of the Yemeni people.

"A life is a life, we want to help them all," Adel Al Jubeir said. He also affirmed the readiness of the ministers to hear from the humanitarian agencies on how they can help ensure that humanitarian aid reaches civilians throughout Yemen.

Yemeni Foreign Minister Riyad Yassin reconfirmed that all Yemeni ports are open and can receive humanitarian aid or for commercial activity that would be subject to inspection in accordance with international law.

Stephen O'Brien, Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, paid tribute to the generosity of the governments of the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, as well as others in the region, for their donations to the humanitarian efforts in Yemen. He said that unlike the other areas in need of humanitarian assistance, Yemen is one of the few cases that are not short of funds. - Wam