At its meeting Thursday, in the capital, Aden, headed by Dr. Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, the government approved a project to finance the Pioneers Program for scholarships for university professors in joint research programs with Arab and foreign universities, after reviewing it by a ministerial committee headed by the Minister of Finance, provided that it is completed. Its implementation will begin from the current year 2024.

The draft decision specified the conditions and criteria for benefiting from the program’s funding for scholarships, the conditions that must be met by applicants for annual research grants, the obligations on them, and the formation of an applicant admission committee headed by the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the membership of three presidents of public universities and three professors from public universities.

The meeting assigned the Ministers of Finance and Higher Education and the heads of the beneficiary public universities to initiate the technical and financial implementation procedures for the program and submit the implementation results to the Prime Minister within three months from its date.

The meeting reviewed the draft spending plan for the state’s general budget for the fiscal year 2024 AD, which was presented by the Ministry of Finance, which includes economic and social indicators, challenges and difficulties facing the sustainability of public finances, and the objectives and priorities of the spending plan, in addition to the policies and reforms related to the implementation of the plan.

He approved the formation of a committee of the Ministers of Finance, Defense, Interior, Public Health, Population, Water, Environment, Local Administration, and the Secretary-General of the Council of Ministers, to review the spending plan, absorb the comments submitted on it, and submit it to the Council to take the necessary action.