Editing Foreign relations of Yemen (section)

== International organization membership ==
Yemen is a member of the [[United Nations]] (UN) and the following UN affiliates and specialized agencies:<ref name=cp>[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/Yemen.pdf Country profile: Yemen]. [[Library of Congress]] [[Federal Research Division]] (August 2008). {{PD-notice}}</ref>
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*[[Food and Agriculture Organization]]
*[[International Civil Aviation Organization]]
*[[International Fund for Agricultural Development]]
*[[International Labour Organization]]
*[[International Maritime Organization]]
*[[International Telecommunication Union]]
*[[UN Conference on Trade and Development]]
*[[UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization]]
*[[UN High Commissioner for Refugees]]
*[[UN Industrial Development Organization]]
*[[Universal Postal Union]]
*[[World Health Organization]]
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Yemen is also a member of the following organizations:<ref name=cp/>
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*[[Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development]]
*[[Arab Monetary Fund]]
*[[Council of Arab Economic Unity]]
*[[Group of 77]]
*[[International Atomic Energy Agency]]
*[[International Bank for Reconstruction and Development]]
*[[International Civil Aviation Organization]]
*[[International Confederation of Free Trade Unions]]
*[[International Criminal Court]] (signatory)
*[[International Criminal Police Organization]]
*[[International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies]]
*[[International Finance Corporation]]
*[[International Monetary Fund]]
*[[Islamic Development Bank]]
*[[League of Arab States]]
*[[Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency]]
*[[Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons]]
*[[Organisation of Islamic Cooperation]]
*[[World Intellectual Property Organization]]
*[[World Meteorological Organization]]
*[[World Customs Organization]]
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Yemen was granted observer status at the [[World Trade Organization]] (WTO) in 1999 and in 2002 and 2003 submitted necessary documentation for full membership. The WTO working party on Yemen met in 2004 and twice thereafter to discuss Yemen's accession; negotiations are expected to take several years.<ref name=cp/>

===Relations with the Gulf Cooperation Council===
Yemen desires to join the 24-year-old Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a sub-regional organization which groups Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman in an economic and security alliance. GCC members have traditionally opposed accession of additional states. Currently, Yemen has partial observer status on some GCC committees, and observers believe that full membership is unlikely. Others assert that it is in the GCC's interest to assist Yemen and prevent it from becoming a failed state, lest its instability spread to neighboring Gulf countries. This has helped Yemen greatly. In November 2006, an international donors' conference was convened in London to raise funds for Yemen's development. Yemen received pledges totaling $4.7&nbsp;billion, which are to be disbursed over four years (2007–2010) and represent over 85% of the government's estimated external financing needs. Much of these pledges came from Yemen's wealthy Arab neighbors.<ref name=crs/>

The impediments to full GCC membership are steep. Reportedly, Kuwait, still bitter over Yemen's support for Saddam Hussein during the first Gulf War, has blocked further discussion of membership. Meanwhile, Yemen needs to export thousands of its workers each year to the Gulf in order to alleviate economic burdens at home. Foreign remittances are, aside from oil exports, Yemen's primary source of hard currency.<ref name=crs/>