Riyadh, Nov. 10, 2019, SPA -- A joint workshop between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Government of Yemen, entitled the Future of Development and Reconstruction in Yemen, began today at the headquarters of the Saudi Program for the Development and Reconstruction of Yemen in Riyadh, in the presence of the Yemeni Prime Minister Dr. Mueen Abdulmalik Saeed, and the Saudi Ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed bin Saeed Al Jaber, who is also the Supervisor General of the Saudi Program for the Development and Reconstruction of Yemen and a number of officials. At the beginning of the workshop, Abdulmalik explained that the Kingdom's support through the Central Bank's deposit and subsidies of oil derivatives in the energy sector was a decisive factor in moving from a negative growth rate of 10% to achieving the first positive rate of 2% in 2018. For his part, Al Jaber affirmed that the Kingdom has contributed for decades in providing support in various fields politically, economically, development and humanitarian, pointing out that the Kingdom is the first supporter of Yemen, where the amount of humanitarian and development assistance exceeded about 14 billion dollars. It is worth mentioning that the Saudi Program for the Development and Reconstruction of Yemen was established by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in May 2018 to contribute, together with international donors and the World Bank, in the development and reconstruction of Yemen. --SPA 20:13 LOCAL TIME 17:13 GMT 0029 www.spa.gov.sa/w1207592