VISIT OF COMMERCE ANTI-BOYCOTT COMPLIANCE STAFF

UNCLAS MANAMA 000362

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/PI, NEA/RA, EB
COMMERCE FOR BIS - W WYSONG AND N WEANT
ALSO FOR ITA/MAC/AMESA - T HOFFMAN
ALSO FOR OGC/CLDP - J FILPI
USTR FOR J BUNTIN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ETRD ETTC PREL BA ECTRD REGION
SUBJECT: VISIT OF COMMERCE ANTI-BOYCOTT COMPLIANCE STAFF


Sensitive but unclassified; please protect accordingly. Not
for Internet distribution.


1. (SBU) Commerce anti-boycott compliance senior policy
analyst Frederick Davidson, Commerce senior compliance
officer Cathleen Ryan, and State regional affairs officer
Danielle Monosson visited Bahrain February 14-15 and met with
government officials and business people concerning the
boycott of Israel. In their meeting with Dr. Jameel Al
Alawi, Ministry of Cabinet Affairs Director of Agreements and
Treaties, the team explained that there had been a tremendous
reduction in the number of Bahraini requests for boycott
language in business documents over the past decade. In 2005
there were nine prohibited requests, and the goal was to
bring that number to zero. Al Alawi said that the tender
board prepares all government contracts and some employees at
the board may occasionally use forms that contain old
language. He noted that Finance Minister Shaikh Ahmed bin
Mohammed Al Khalifa had issued a circular to all ministries
and government agencies in 2005 instructing them to remove
all language about the boycott from contracts.


2. (SBU) Ryan stated that boycott language also appears
occasionally in banks' letters of credit. Al Alawi said the
government cannot force private businesses to change language
in their business correspondence but agreed that the Bahrain
Monetary Agency could inform the banks that boycott language
is not necessary under Bahraini law.


3. (SBU) The anti-boycott team also met with Finance
Ministry Director of Economic Planning Yusuf Humood and
Ministry of Commerce trade official Eman Al Dossary. Humood
said that the GOB had closed the Israel boycott office in
2005, meaning that enforcement of the primary boycott in
Bahrain was not possible. This move was in keeping with the
long term policy of removing the direct presence of the
government from the economy. Al Dossary said that Bahrain
was fully committed to its WTO obligations, including
permitting trade with all other WTO members (read Israel).


4. (SBU) The team also spoke with representatives of Parsons
and Black and Veatch, two American companies with a presence
in Bahrain. The Parsons executive said that his insistence a
few years ago on removing any boycott language from
government contracts may have contributed to his lack of
winning new business for a period. For the past 18 months,
however, he had won several contracts and government
officials had responded favorably to any requests to alter
language in contracts.

MONROE