Mr Deputy Prime Minister,

Gentlemen,

We are happy to welcome you in Moscow. A year ago, we met in Abu Dhabi during the fourth meeting of the Russian-Arab Cooperation Forum. Since then, the situation in Yemen has not improved: on the contrary, more issues have been accumulated which we will discuss today in detail.

The new problems are related to the domestic conflict in your country with the involvement of the Arab coalition. We hope that the grave humanitarian situation will impel everyone who can influence it to urgently abandon military operations and begin negotiations and political settlement process with the participation of all forces in Yemen.

Russia, as a country that maintains contacts with all Yemeni groups and all external players who one way or another influence the situation in Yemen, is ready to do its best to facilitate this process.

I appreciate this opportunity to hear from you the Yemeni Government’s outlook on the settlement prospects.