$2.7B, Refined Petroleum $265M, Cars $217M and Non-fillet Fresh Fish $114M, using the 1992 revision of the HS (Harmonized System) classification, while the most imported products were Wheat $1.75B, Refined Petroleum $1.01B, Cars $662M, Rice $389M and Raw Sugar $376M [2].

Interestingly, China, South Korea, Thailand, Japan and Saudi Arabia were  the most export destinations of Yemeni products ($2.19B, $2.11B, $1.01B, $738M, and $498M respectively [3]. On the other side, the top import Yemen destinations were China, India, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United States ($2.07B, $1.26B, $925M, $808M and $777M) respectively [4]. Moreover, Yemen is a member of the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, which since 1974 has contributed to the financing of economic and social development in Arab states and countries through loans and guarantees [1]. In March 2004, the Arab League provided US$136 million to Yemen to finance infrastructure improvements.  At a mid-November 2006 meeting in London, a group of bilateral and multilateral donors pledged US$4.7 billion over four years (2007–10) to fund economic development in Yemen. The goal of the meeting, which was jointly chaired by the World Bank and the government of Yemen, was to provide sufficient economic aid to Yemen to enable it to qualify for future Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) membership. More than 55 percent of the aid, which is primarily in the form of grants, come from the GCC. Yemen was granted observer status at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1999, and its application for full membership was under negotiation as of December 2006 [5, 6].

On the other hand, economic relationship with China has historical background since two Yemens were officially united on May 22, 1990. North Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh became the president of the Republic of Yemen, and South Yemen's Ali Salim al-Baid became the vice-president. Sana’a was chosen as the nation's political capital while Aden became the nation's economic capital. China was among the first nations to extend its recognition to the newly established republic in Yemen. Yang Shangkun, Chinese president, sent a congratulatory message to Saleh, Chairman of the Presidential Council of the Republic of Yemen, on the following day of its proclamation [7]. In the economic realm, China and Yemen continued their meetings to review aspects of co-operation between the two countries in the economic and oil and gas sectors, the exchange of technical expertise in developing the free zone area, trade exchange and means of improving this co-operation [8].  China and Yemen signed a memorandum of understanding in Sana’a on 16 May 1996, during Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Bangguo's visit to Yemen, for the development of co-operation in the fields of oil prospecting, production, marketing and refining. An economic and technical co- operation agreement was also signed. According to the agreement, China would grant Yemen 30 million Yuan in aid to implement the economic and technical co-operation projects agreed upon by the two sides [9]. However, the trade relationship between both countries  progressed to increase gradually to reach high cooperation and trade alternation between both in recent years.