RIYADH: The Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen (SDRPY) has launched more than 100 development projects and initiatives throughout Yemen since 2018.
This continues a legacy of Saudi support that includes $14 billion provided for development in Yemen between 2009-2019.
SDRPY focuses on seven key sectors: agriculture and fisheries, health, water, education, energy, transportation, and government and public-sector infrastructure.
“The program reflects the passion and determination that the Saudi people have always had for helping their Yemeni brothers and sisters,” said Mohammed bin Saeed Al-Jabir, Saudi ambassador to Yemen and SDRPY’s general supervisor.
“SDRPY projects have real value in terms of sustainability and capacity-building, as reflected in the three sustainable development pillars: community, economy and environment,” he said.
The program, Al-Jabir said, is designed to help Yemeni communities gain economic self-sufficiency and combine short-term assistance with long-term projects promoting economic growth.
“The program has answered short-term needs repeatedly, including emergency-response operations during cyclones and floods and deliveries of tankers to provide clean water,” he said, adding that the program is also building schools and hospitals and upgrading ports and airports.
Other initiatives led by SDRPY in agriculture and fisheries include the cultivation of more than 435,000 square meters of wheat to increase the productivity of both farming and fishing.
The program also supplied 220 fishing boats equipped with outboard motors, and built boat repair and maintenance facilities.
In the field of health, the program has supplied Yemeni hospitals with state-of-the-art medical equipment, including Al-Jawf Hospital, serving 18,000 patients a month. It has also built a cardiology center, constructed a full-service dialysis center with 20-patient capacity, and expanded and improved seven general hospitals and health care clinics in Yemen.
The Saudi Hospital in Hajjah province and the Al-Salam Hospital in Saada — built by the Kingdom in the 1980s and 1990s and now located in areas controlled by the Houthi militias — continue to receive $10 million each annually from Saudi Arabia to cover operating and maintenance expenses.
SDRPY has provided 120 water tankers, improved water distribution networks, including through construction of a 20-km water-supply line with pumping station to expand access to clean water for the metropolitan area of Al-Ghaydah district, and drilled 40 wells equipped with solar-powered pumps.
The program has provided cost-effective systems that ensure people in Yemen have the access to improved water sources that they need to maintain higher health standards and achieve greater efficiency and productivity in their country’s agricultural sector.
Under the program, weapons removed from the hands of children freed from the grip of the militias are replaced with schoolbooks. Children are now armed with books instead of weapons.
SDRPY has built more than 20 schools in Yemen to serve more than 23,400 students each year, delivered more than 500,000 textbooks to 150 schools and more than 6,000 tables and double bench-desks, and supplied enough school buses for students to make more than 280,000 safe journeys between home and school every year.
In higher education, a 300-bed teaching hospital and adjoining university with four colleges of sciences are under construction.
The program has delivered roughly $180 million worth of fuel to 64 power plants across 10 governorates, keeping schools, hospitals, shops, homes and other vital institutions functioning around the clock.
Oil derivatives tripled electricity-generation rates; enhanced safety by lighting major roads; allowed Yemenis to pump drinking water, enhanced hygiene and maintained agriculture and eased strains on the state budget by helping the government to pay the salaries of public-sector employees.
The SDRPY is developing and increasing the operational capacity of ports in Aden, Mocha, Mukalla, Nishtun and Socotra and has provided cranes for them, facilitating the imports of more than 220,000 tons of oil derivatives.
The program is constructing an airport in Marib, and developing, expanding and improving airports in Aden and Al-Ghaydah, helping the movement of humanitarian and development aid as well as travel in Yemen.
At the beginning of 2020, SDRPY launched the first phase of the Aden International Airport rehabilitation project, bringing it into compliance with International Civil Aviation Organization standards and expanding its capacity to receive international flights.
The program has built more than 600 km of road throughout Al-Mahra province, and installed solar-powered street and road lighting in districts around Yemen to improve safety and efficiency across the country’s transportation landscape.
The program has constructed a national security and anti-terrorism complex consisting of a command center, training facilities, officers’ quarters, a guesthouse and more than 50 housing units.
SDRPY is closely involved in projects to develop and maintain key government infrastructure, laying the cornerstones for both self-sufficiency and security in Yemen.
Saudi Arabia’s development program delivers change in Yemen
https://arab.news/vejng
Saudi Arabia’s development program delivers change in Yemen
- The program is designed to help Yemeni communities gain economic self-sufficiency and combine short-term assistance with long-term projects promoting economic growth
- Other initiatives led by SDRPY in agriculture and fisheries include the cultivation of more than 435,000 square meters of wheat
Saudi Arabia, Estonia strengthen cyber defense cooperation
- Renowned for its leadership in digital governance, Estonia sees cybersecurity as central to its partnership potential with Saudi Arabia, building on years of regional engagement through its technology firms
RIYADH: Estonia aims to deepen defense, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence cooperation with Saudi Arabia as both nations look to advance technology‑driven defense and cybersecurity capabilities.
Hanno Pevkur, Estonia’s minister of defense, told Arab News at the World Defense Show in Riyadh on Monday that Estonia’s defense industry is eager to contribute to the Kingdom’s fast‑growing defense ecosystem.
“In the modern world, cooperation built on trust and technology is the best defense,” he said. “It is important for us to be here because we clearly see there is a possibility to increase cooperation, not only bilaterally between Saudi Arabia and Estonia, but across the region.”
At Estonia’s pavilion, a cooperation agreement was signed between an Estonian company and a Saudi firm during the show, he noted.
Pevkur also said Estonia’s defense sector has expanded rapidly in recent years, driven by technological innovation and partnership.
“Our defense industry is growing very rapidly, and we continue to see strong momentum,” he said.
He said Estonia’s strengths lie in digital and smart‑system integration rather than large‑scale weapons production.
“We will not build airplanes or tanks, but what we can do is integrate robotics, automation and drones to make existing systems smarter,” he said.
The minister said effective defense collaboration must link businesses and governments to achieve meaningful results.
“When we want to have real cooperation, we need it on all levels,” he said. “The biggest client for any defense company is the government, so we must treat this as one ecosystem where the public and private sectors work hand in hand.”
Renowned for its leadership in digital governance, Estonia sees cybersecurity as central to its partnership potential with Saudi Arabia, building on years of regional engagement through its technology firms.
Pevkur said several Estonian companies, including Nortal, have already assisted Gulf governments in developing open IT and digital‑service systems.
“As the most digitalized nation in the world, almost every service in Estonia can be done online, except getting married,” he said. “But with such digitalization, we also need strong cyberdefense.”
He said data protection and digital resilience are treated as matters of national sovereignty in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia.
“Data is what we own. When someone steals that data, it becomes a serious threat,” he added. “That is why cyberdefense is not just about technology, it is about trust, sovereignty and protection.”
Pevkur said Saudi Arabia’s advances in AI offer promising opportunities for collaboration.
“I know that Saudi Arabia is doing great work when it comes to AI,” he said. “For us, as a small country with limited human resources, AI is essential not just for defense but for everyday life.”
Pevkur added that Estonia has launched a national AI strategy to promote responsible development and closer coordination between government and industry. One Estonian company, he said, has developed a system that allows a single operator to control hundreds of drones through AI.
“It is quite easy to put a weapon into the hands of a robot, but we also need to define who is accountable for its actions,” he said.
“The big question for the future is whether we can allow a war to be fought entirely by AI, or if humans must always make the final ethical decisions.”
He said in his conclusion that governments must reach a common understanding on how AI will be used and regulated on the battlefield.
