A tale of two cities: Sanaa starves while Muscat thrives

Al Jazeera reported that the UN envoy to Yemen has warned of a potential humanitarian crisis in Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East. The envoy has warned that circa 3million Yemeni citizens are in need of immediate assistance, of which 500,000 children are at serious risk of dying or suffering life-long consequences through malnutrition. When President Hadi came to power I commented that his greatest obstacle to reform is the country's lack of funds. Whilst this is still true, with the threat of malnutrition on the horizon, I think he should be more concerned about feeding the country before implementing reforms. Perhaps some of Yemen's wealthy neighbours could prove to the rest of the world that pan-Arab solidarity still exists by providing some much needed support to stricken Yemen. With Qatar now the wealthiest country in the world in terms of GDP per capita, perhaps they'd like to lead the effort?

In contrast, the website AME Info posted an article today to report on the ""Invest in the Sultanate of Oman" Symposium held in Bahrain. During the gathering, Oman has been complemented for its excellent investment environment. Only yesterday I posted a comment on the fact that an Omani private sector company currently has an tourism portfolio of over $2million for investments in the sultanate's thriving tourist industry. The proximity of Yemen and Oman merely highlights the huge gulf in terms of development and prosperity between the two countries. Whilst it will take years, indeed many decades, for Yemen to catch up with its prosperous neighbour, let's hope that one day the two countries will be more evenly matched.