YEMEN: RESPONDING TO ARAB LEAGUE BOYCOTT REPORTING

UNCLAS SANAA 002183 SIPDIS NEA/ARP FOR ANDREW MACDONALD NEA/RA FOR MARK KELLY DEPT OF TREASURY FOR BRIAN MCCAULEY DEPT OF COMMERCE FOR TYLER HOFFMAN USTR FOR JASON BUNTIN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KBCT ECON ETRD YM SUBJECT: YEMEN: RESPONDING TO ARAB LEAGUE BOYCOTT REPORTING REQUIREMENTS REF: SECSTATE 120272 In response to REFTEL request, post has gathered the following information on current Arab League Boycott (ALB) practices in Yemen: - The ROYG continues to enforce the primary aspect of the ALB, namely, prohibiting the importation of Israeli-origin goods and services into Yemen. The ROYG does not enforce the secondary and tertiary aspects of the boycott and does not require participation in or participation with any other international boycotts. - The ROYG does not request that U.S. firms comply with boycott requirements. - The ROYG's boycott practices have a minimal impact on U.S. businesses, as the practices are not very well enforced. - The ROYG is implementing a 1995 governmental decision to renounce observance of the secondary and tertiary aspects of the boycott. - The ROYG does not maintain an ALB office. Yemen participates in the annual meeting of the Central Boycott Office (CBO) in Damascus. - The ROYG has not made any concrete efforts to stop enforcing the primary aspect of the ALB, and still actively supports it. - On November 24, EconOff met with Mojeeb Mohammed Othman, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) official in charge of Arab League affairs in the MFA's Arab Countries Department. Othman insisted that Yemen's enforcement of the primary aspect of the ALB is related to political reasons and cited the Arab-Israeli conflict as a root cause. When pressed by EconOff about the extent of the enforcement, Othman admitted that enforcement is not complete and said that products still get into Yemen. SECHE