The supervisory follow up committee on implementing the prisoner exchange agreement concluded its meetings in Amman today. The committee, which includes representatives of the Government of Yemen and Ansar Allah, as well as the Office of the Special Envoy and the International Committee of the Red Cross, discussed over two days the steps taken so far to implement the prisoner exchange agreement, and agreed on timed steps to be taken for maintaining progress in fulfilling the provisions of the agreement.

The meetings witnessed positive, constructive and frank discussions on the implementation of the agreement that was reached between the two parties prior to the Sweden Consultations. The two parties took the first step in implementing the agreement by exchanging the lists of prisoners and detainees and providing responses on the exchanged lists.

It is worth noting that the prisoner exchange agreement was the first agreement signed between the two parties since the outbreak of the war in Yemen. The actual start of exchanging prisoners and detainees will represent a glimpse of hope for thousands of Yemeni families awaiting to know the fate of their loved ones, who have gone absent throughout the years of war.

The Office of the Special Envoy hopes that the positive engagement of both parties will speed up the implementation of this agreement, which will contribute to confidence-building between the two parties on other issues.