03 December 2007
During 12 and 13 November 2007, Yemen LNG Company held at the Movenpick Hotel in Sana’a the second public consultation (PCDP) event which brought together over 400 participants representing the company’s key stakeholders.

The two-day event was divided into four sessions with one in the morning and another in the evening for each day. The purpose was to share with Yemen LNG key stakeholders information about the project and achievements to date and to receive their feedback on various aspects of the work of Yemen LNG particularly with regard to Yemen LNG’s social and environmental responsibility.

Participants included senior government officials, the international community, national and local authorities, the media, non-governmental organisations working in Yemen, as well as Yemen LNG staff members.

Addressing the company guests in attendance, Deputy General Manager Karim Abuhamad welcomed the participants to this major interactive event which he confirmed is vital in the management of Yemen LNG’s relationship with key stakeholders. “These sessions”, Karim added, “will provide you with the opportunity to give your feedback on the work of the project and help us to address any issues and concerns”.

To encourage participation and discussion, the event was divided into six themes as follows:

Who is Yemen LNG;
Project Description;
Yemenisation;
Sustainable Development;
Social and Cultural Considerations; and
Environmental Responsibility.

The PCDP team put up in display around 100 posters, in Arabic and in English, plus short movie clips, that highlighted extensively the aforementioned six areas. A lot of interest was shown in learning about the construction progress to date, the efforts to Yemenise its workforce and the social and environmental protection in the areas of its operations.

The themes were manned by specialised Yemen LNG staff members who gave a presentation about their respective themes. Themes were repeated several times to allow other participants to cover all of themes in which they were interested. Enough time within each session was then allowed for open discussions and questions and answers. Participants’ questions and remarks were carefully noted down for consideration. At the end of the session arranged for the media, a press conference was held for over 70 local and regional media representatives who raised several other general and specific questions about various aspects of the work of the Project.

Handouts with copies of all the presentations on the six themes, Project Information Documents in addition to press kits for the media were given to each participant. (To download, please click here for English and here for Arabic).

“By comparison to the previous PCDP which was assembled with great enthusiasm but not much previous experience by the early Yemen LNG team the 2007 event was outstandingly better”, HR Manager Phil Campbell said. “Our material demonstrated just how far we had come in only one year, both in content and quality, and the presenters were in every case committed, knowledgeable, enthusiastic and clearly proud of what they and the company had achieved and will achieve in the future.

Sharing his personal experience, Head of Environment Ibrahim Al-Thary stressed that this event has generated much interest in the company. “We received positive feedback from a number of participants who were really impressed by Yemen LNG’s rigorous approach to address issues and concerns particularly those related to marine biodiversity”, Ibrahim said.

Most of the guests that were in attendance expressed how impressed they were with the level of organisation and presentation of the Company’s various activities. In his opening statement on behalf of the Minister of Oil and Minerals, Mr. Anwar Salem, the Executive Director of Yemen Gas Company noted “the importance of such dialogue between the private sector and its stakeholders especially for a project of the size of Yemen LNG”. “The format you followed to discuss progress on the project and your activities is really unique especially that it gave everybody the chance to ask questions and share their feedback”, journalist Nasser Al-Rabi’ea of Gulf News stated.