Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh is scheduled to visit Germany and Italy next week for talks with senior officials on economic relations, official sources said Thursday. The sources said Saleh would meet German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in Berlin, and the Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and Pope John Paul II in Rome. Saleh was expected to discuss with the European leaders a more active European role in restoring stability in Iraq and achieving a just peace in the Middle East, reported a military-run magazine. Talks will also focus on boosting bilateral economic and trade relations and encouraging German and Italian investments in Yemen, said the official sources, adding that Saleh will be accompanied by a large business delegation.
