Dubai: Yemen and European Union (EU) discussed on Sunday the measures adopted by the Yemeni government to lift the ban on Yemen air cargo to Europe.
Courier companies are reportedly closing down in Yemen after losing a lot of money due to the ban.
Minister of Transport Khalid Al Wazir briefed the EU delegation on the arrangements taken at Yemeni airports to enhance security.
The additional security measures include full physical search of all employees entering or leaving the airports and a full search of all packages and cargo by explosive detectors, x-ray equipment and manual search in addition to detaining all packages and cargo for 48 hours prior to shipping.
The ban took place after explosive packages sent from Yemen were discovered in Dubai and UK last October; both packages were bound for a synagogue in Chicago.
As reported by Saba net, Al Wazir made it clear that shipping companies in Yemen have been reorganised. New regulations, licenses and procedures are in order so that companies can carry out shipping operations from Yemen to other countries.
The ministry has ended recently a nine-day training course, under the supervision of an American training team, for 260 employers of the security and customs personnel and 10 employers from the maintenance, on the explosive detectors offered by the American government to Sana'a airport
Supervised by a UAE team, another 5-day training course has been carried out for 26 air mail and air shipping security personnel from security, customs, aviation security and shipping at the airport, Al Wazir added.
The ban on couriers going from Yemen to western countries and many other parts of the world has caused several international courier companies to shut down operations until further notice.
The loss is expected to be millions of dollars for six courier companies that used to operate fully in Yemen since the ban was enforced early November last year.
"We had to let go 10 per cent of our staff and are now only receiving packages,” said Wadhah Shujaaldin, executive manager of courier service Aramex in Yemen, talking to Yemen Times.
According to Fedex in Yemen, which had to close down its main office and relocate to a smaller branch office to manage the remaining of its operations, the company has lost tens of thousands of dollars since the ban.
Most western countries - in addition to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait - are preventing courier companies to send packages from Yemen.
