Sana'a, 4 May, 1988

[Extracts] In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. The leaderships of both parts of Yemen have faith in Yemeni unity and they abide by the objectives of the immortal 26 September and 14 October revolutions.

Both leaders are loyal to the Yemeni people's struggle and martyrs for the sake of building a unified independent Yemen. They are proceeding from our Yemeni masses' aspirations for achieving the unity of Yemen - land and people. The two leaders are aware of the historic responsibility towards our Arab nation of Yemeni unity as a serious step and a landmark on the path of comprehensive Arab unity. It is the wish of both leaders to crown the national efforts to achieve the cherished aim of national unity … in accordance with the agreements and statements signed by the leaderships and officials of both parts of Yemen.

Both leaders also want to continue the unity contacts and agreements. In order to accomplish the aforementioned, the leaderships of both parts of Yemen represented by brother Colonel Ali 'Abdullah Salih, President of the Republic, C-in-C of the armed forces, and Secretary-General of the General People's Congress, and 'Ali Salim al-Bid, Secretary-General of the YSP Central Committee, agreed at the meeting which took place between them in the capital, Sana'a, from 3 to 4 May 1988 to do the following:

1. Continue the unity steps and the implementation of what has previously been agreed upon between both parts of Yemen in all fields, and reactivate the Higher Yemeni Council, the joint ministerial committee and the unity committees existing between both parts of Yemen.

2. Enable the Secretariat of the Higher Yemen Council to accomplish quickly the task entrusted to it by the last Ta'izz meeting, which is to prepare a timetable for the draft constitution of the unity state and to refer it to the people's councils in both parts of Yemen so that it can be put to a public referendum in accordance with the unity agreements between both parts of Yemen.

3. Revive the unified political organisation as stipulated in Article Nine of the Tripoli statement in implementation of true intentions and a translation of the unionist steps until the two sides reach a joint concept for unified political action in accordance with agreements, provided that the committee concludes its work within the shortest possible time.

4. Complete the efforts of the leadership of the two parts of Yemen to contain and deal with the repercussions of the regrettable 13 January 1985 incidents and to co-operate toward consolidating security and stability in the two parts of Yemen through all possible means.

5. In view of the importance of economic integration between the two parts of the homeland in order to develop and diversify the economic activities that exist on the level of the one Yemeni homeland, and after completion of the steps related to the natural wealth joint investment venture, agreement was reached on the following:

   1. To establish a joint investment venture between the Ma'rib province and Shabwah in an area of 2,200 sq. km.

   2. A joint topographical committee will be in charge of specifying and marking the area of the joint investment venture on the spot.

   3. The military positions of the two parts of Yemen shall be removed from the joint investment area and the two parts will abide by and implement what was included in the minutes of the two Chiefs of Staff on 19 January 1985.

   4. The oil ministers of the two parts of Yemen shall take all the necessary measures to implement this project, including the investment, technical, financial, administrative arrangements and other measures that are necessary for economic investment.

   5. This joint venture stresses the desire of the leadership of both parts of Yemen to adhere fully to the unity of our Yemen and the unity of its territory, and their rejection of any partitioning or any border considerations. Moreover, this agreement under no circumstances means the determination or demarcation of borders between the two parts of Yemen, nor does it mean the entrenchment or recognition of what was inherited from the hateful colonialism and defunct imamate in terms of negative repercussions aimed at deepening division.

6. The leadership of both parts of Yemen are committed to implementing what is cited herewith and to surmounting all the difficulties that may emerge in the face of implementing this agreement.

(Signed) Colonel Ali Abdullah Salih, President of the Republic, C-in-C of the Armed Forces, and Secretary-General of the General People's Congress in the northern part of the homeland; Ali Salim al-Bid, Secretary-General of the YSP Central Committee in the southern part of the homeland.