Message from the Chief Representative

Features of Yemen

Yemen is located in the southwest corner of Arabia Peninsula, and in important region so called strait of Bab El-Mandeb connecting the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. The area of Yemen is about 555,000 square kilometers, almost 1.5 times of Japan. The land is composed by two main regions; mountain area in the north (temperate zone) and desert are in the south and the southeast (tropical and subtropical). The capital of Yemen, Sanaa is located at 2,300 meter height. ‘Jabal an Nabi Shu'ayb' has an altitude of 3,660 meter which is the highest in the peninsula stands close to Sanaa.

Yemen's principal natural resources are oil and natural gas as well as agriculturally productive land and fisheries. Yemen has long coastline of 1,906 kilometers along the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and the Arabian Sea. It is situated at the entrance to Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which links the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean and is one of the most active and strategic shipping lanes in the world.

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Donor Support to Yemen

Given the importance of the geographical location of Yemen, the stabilization of Yemen through poverty reduction and socio-economic development is indispensable for the welfare of the entire gulf region, and the security of Yemen ensures the safety of Bab-el-Mandeb Strait. Yemen is one of the least developed countries in the world and it is the poorest country in the Middle East the country always faced several economic challenges including rapid population growth by 3 %, scarcity of water resources, food insecurity, underdeveloped economic infrastructure including power sector, and excessive dependence on revenue from oil and gas industry. Yemen's Human Development Index value for 2019 is 0.470, which put the country in the low human development category— positioning it at 179 out of 189 countries and territories.

After several years of escalating conflict, Yemen developed the largest humanitarian crisis in the World and severe economic decline. Conflict, displacement, and economic decline are placing immense pressure on essential basic services and the institutions that provide them, accelerating their collapse, and resulting in irregularities and disruptions of salary payments and interruptions in the provision of operating costs for basic social facilities. In response to this large crisis in Yemen, the international community increased their assistance to Yemen, and Japan has made consistent contribution to support Yemeni people for many decades. Japan's recent assistance to Yemen since 2012 amounts to USD 486.51 million.

Yemen and JICA

Japan recognizes that Yemen faces severe challenges in terms of economic and social development and is in great need of foreign aid to promote its development. Therefore, JICA has been extending its assistance to Yemen as part of Japan's ODA since 1977 through the various schemes of cooperation including ODA loan, grant aid projects, technical cooperation projects, knowledge co-creation program for Yemeni trainees in Japan, development studies, and dispatch of Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCVs) and dispatch of experts and study teams. Until the beginning of 1990, Japan's ODA was one of the largest in Yemen, and JICA set up an office in Sana'a under the name of JOCV Yemen Office in 1991 when it started the dispatch of JOCVs. Yet, the activities of JICA were disrupted due to the civil war in Yemen in 1994, then JICA resumed its Office operations in Yemen in 2005, and the Office was promoted to JICA Yemen Office in January 2007 in order to expand Japanese ODA again in Yemen focusing on basic education, vocational education, maternal and child health, rural water supply and agriculture development. I hope peace will be restored soon in Yemen so that JICA can contribute more to Yemen's inclusive development, peace building and reconstruction.

KATO Ken
Chief Representative
JICA Yemen Office