Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ALGIERS848
2006-05-10 16:49:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Algiers
Cable title:  

ARAB LEAGUE BOYCOTT HAS "NO PRACTICAL APPLICATION"

Tags:  KBCT ABLD PHUM PIRF AG 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO0172
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHMOS
DE RUEHAS #0848 1301649
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 101649Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY ALGIERS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1053
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
UNCLAS ALGIERS 000848 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR NEA, EB, L
DEPARTMENT PASS TO USTR
COMMERCE FOR BIS/OAC

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KBCT ABLD PHUM PIRF AG
SUBJECT: ARAB LEAGUE BOYCOTT HAS "NO PRACTICAL APPLICATION"
IN ALGERIA

REF: STATE 66895

UNCLAS ALGIERS 000848

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR NEA, EB, L
DEPARTMENT PASS TO USTR
COMMERCE FOR BIS/OAC

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KBCT ABLD PHUM PIRF AG
SUBJECT: ARAB LEAGUE BOYCOTT HAS "NO PRACTICAL APPLICATION"
IN ALGERIA

REF: STATE 66895


1. Algerian law does not contain specific codifications or
references to the Arab League Boycott and post is not aware
of any GoA communiques on the issue. While the primary
boycott is informally recognized by virtue of Algeria's
membership in the Arab League and the stigma still attached
to doing direct business with Israel, there is no GoA treaty
or convention mandating conformity or complicity with, or
participation in, the boycott. Furthermore, knowledgeable
Embassy contacts indicate that Algerian firms can and do
readily acquire Israeli products that have been stripped of
Israeli markings from intermediaries in Cyprus, Greece,
Turkey, or elsewhere. (Note: These tend to be specialized
goods such as irrigation and desalination equipment and
parts. End note.) As a result, an Embassy contact at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs underscored that the boycott has
"no practical application" in Algeria.


2. There is nothing to suggest GoA adherence to the
secondary or tertiary aspects of the boycott. The website of
the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise categorically
states that Algeria does not enforce the secondary boycott.
As evidence of this, numerous American firms that operate in
Algeria have operations in Israel, and post has no record of
U.S. firms facing boycott-related obstacles.


3. Algeria does not maintain a boycott office. At one time,
there was a joint boycott enforcement commission made up of
staff from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Commerce
that met periodically. However, as a clear demonstration of
the commission's irrelevance, contacts at the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs could not recall the last time the commission
met and denied any MFA role in boycott enforcement.
ERDMAN