IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ARAB LEAGUE BOYCOTT IN THE

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 000169 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/RA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL ECON ETRD KBCT AE SUBJECT: IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ARAB LEAGUE BOYCOTT IN THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES REF: SECSTATE 8507 ¶1. (SBU) Econchief met with MinEcon U/S Abdulla Al-Saleh and legal advisor Issa Baddour on February 6 to discuss Arab League Boycott related issues. Econchief commended Al-Saleh for working with Commerce/BIS officials to remove boycott related language from commercial documents and stressed that eliminating boycott requests was a U.S. priority. Econchief also took the opportunity to deliver copies of boycott related documents and to note that U.S. firms continued to receive requests to comply with provisions of the Arab League Boycott that are illegal under U.S. law. ¶2. (SBU) Al-Saleh welcomed the cooperation with the USG on eliminating boycott requests and harmonizing language in order to ensure that it met the requirements of U.S. and UAE law. He noted that the Ministry of Economy had agreed on language with Commerce/BIS for certain commercial documents that met the legal requirements of both countries. The Ministry of Economy had circulated that language to organizations that had been identified as using prohibited language. Baddour added that many of those firms had contacted the Ministry to state that they were using the new language. Baddour added that the ministry had contacted Commerce/BIS in August 2007 in an effort to resolve outstanding language questions, but was still waiting for a reply. ¶3. (SBU) Econchief asked Al-Saleh for copies of the boycott law and any circulars issued referring to the Arab League Boycott. Al-Saleh offered to prepare a report addressing the legal issues surrounding the Arab League Boycott from the UAE perspective as well as laying out UAEG actions over the past year to remove boycott language prohibited by U.S. law. He offered to attach copies of laws and circulars, but noted that they would be in Arabic. ¶4. (SBU) Al-Saleh explained that the UAE used ministerial circulars to inform companies of policy changes and that the Ministry of Economy would have passed these circulars to government agencies, emirate-level authorities and chambers of commerce. Senior UAE officials continue to reiterate that the policy of the UAE is not to implement the secondary and tertiary aspects of the boycott and not to discriminate against U.S. firms. ¶5. (SBU) Boycott requests continue to be an issue for the UAE, which has the highest level of reported cases in the region. UAE officials note, however, that the UAE is also the largest U.S. export market in the Arab world and that U.S. exports to the UAE continue to expand. Most U.S. businesses in the UAE have not identified the Arab League Boycott as a major stumbling block. They acknowledge its existence, but note that language can usually be modified to meet U.S. legal requirements. When the Embassy has intervened on specific boycott cases, we have been successful, including in having a U.S. company removed from the primary boycott black list. ¶6. (SBU) Post will follow-up with the Ministry of Economy about the report and the laws QUINN