Oil Minister meets UN Deputy Resident Representative

Minister of Oil and Minerals Ahmed Daris has met with Deputy Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Nahid Hussein and environment and emergency response expert at the United Nations Development Program, Samia Al-Duaij.

In the meeting, the Minister of Oil indicated that the marine environment is threatened by the United Nations’ failure to deal with the issue of the floating tank “Safer”, which holds 1,200,000 barrels of oil without being subject to any maintenance for years.

He explained that any oil spill would harm the marine environment, the coasts of Yemen, and the countries bordering the Red Sea, stressing the importance of activating the agreement signed with the United Nations to maintain the ship and develop solutions to prevent any disaster.

Daris pointed out that several meetings were held with the United Nations to solve the problem of the floating tank and to agree on the formation of committees, and only implementation by the United Nations remained.

Minister Daris affirmed the keenness of the Supreme Political Council and the Salvation Government to solve the problem of Safer as soon as possible, calling on the United Nations to fulfill its obligations in this regard.

He expressed his regret over the United Nations’ retreat from the agreement signed to assess and maintain the Reservoir to spare the marine environment an imminent disaster.

In return, Hussein and al-Duaij stressed the importance of finding emergency plans for the floating tank, working on a successful response without delay, and developing the capabilities of local communities to address any disaster.