Director General of the GCC office in Yemen Saad Al-Arifi was briefed on National Dialogue Conference (NDC) activities on Monday.

He paid a visit to Sana’a’s Movenpick Hotel, the main site of the NDC, and spoke with members of the Good Governance, Development and Southern Issue working groups.

Al-Arifi said the GCC countries were watching the NDC closely from the GCC office in Sana’a.

“The ten countries sponsoring the GCC-brokered power transfer deal hold weekly meetings to coordinate and follow up on NDC activities,” he said to the Good Governance group during his visit.

“The dialogue conference’s results will be produced by the Yemeni people and the role of the GCC is to support what the Yemeni people agree on,” he added.

When visiting the Development Working Group, Al-Arifi praised its efforts to address development and economic issues.

“The GCC countries are committed to its aid pledges to support the development process in Yemen,” he said, before pointing out that the countries had provided 80% of the pledges which were announced at last year’s donor conference.

“The donors are continuing to allocate their pledges and a plan has been set up for transparency, fighting corruption and the use of conditions to ensure good use of donor aid in Yemen,” he said.

Al-Arifi called on the Yemeni government to demonstrate its commitment to mutual accountability and credibility plans and for it to activate the executive body which will be responsible for handling receiving foreign aid.

To the Southern Issue Working Group, he said the GCC had been paying close attention to the Southern issue.

“We read the reports of this group daily and we have heard the special understandings of the Southern issue’s roots,” he said. “We can’t put a ceiling on anything; instead, we have a deal that calls for Yemen’s unity. You are now working to produce outcomes which serve this unity,” he said.