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Viewing cable 06ABUDHABI730, INTERAGENCY TEAM WORKS WITH UAEG TO ADDRESS ARAB

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06ABUDHABI730 2006-02-27 15:15 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Abu Dhabi
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 000730 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/RA 
COMMERCE FOR BIS: U/S MCCORMICK 
STATE PASS USTR FOR A/USTR DONNELLY AND DOUG BELL 
 
E.O. 12958: NA 
TAGS: KBCT KMPI ETRD ECON IS AE
SUBJECT:  INTERAGENCY TEAM WORKS WITH UAEG TO ADDRESS ARAB 
LEAGUE BOYCOTT 
 
Ref: 05 Abu Dhabi 4232 
 
1. (U) This message contains business proprietary 
information. 
 
2. (SBU) Summary: A USDOC/State anti-boycott compliance team 
visited the UAE from February 18 to 21 for meetings with 
UAEG officials and U.S. businesses.  MinEcon A/US Abdullah 
Al-Saleh stressed that the UAEG does not implement the 
secondary and tertiary aspects of the Arab League boycott of 
Israel and that he wanted to work with the USG to bring the 
UAEG's language in compliance with U.S. anti-boycott 
regulations.  The team also reached out to U.S. businesses 
to discuss the boycott related problems that they faced in 
the UAE.  One Dubai lawyer noted that he had always managed 
to modify boycott language to bring it into compliance with 
U.S. regulations.  The regional government affairs director 
for Intel noted that he thought that there was still a 
popular perception in the Middle East that the boycott was 
justified.  End Summary. 
 
UAE Ministry of Economy - Committed to Removing Barriers 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
3. (SBU) On February 18, Frederick Davidson and Cathleen 
Ryan of the Department of Commerce's Office of Anti-Boycott 
Compliance, NEA/RA Econoff Danielle Monosson, Econchief, and 
Embassy Export Control Officer met with Ministry of Economy 
A/US for Economic Affairs and International Cooperation 
Abdullah Ahmed Al-Saleh, Director of the Trade Control 
Department Juma Al-Mubarak, and Issa Baddour, Legal Advisor 
on WTO and International Trade Agreements.  The meeting was 
a follow-up to Davidson's September 2005 visit to the UAE, 
where he offered to have U.S. experts work with UAEG 
officials to eliminate secondary and tertiary boycott 
requests (reftel). Al-Saleh said that the UAEG did not 
implement the secondary and tertiary aspects of the Arab 
League boycott and welcomed U.S. companies.  He expressed 
willingness to work with the U.S. to develop language that 
met the legal requirements of both countries.   Davidson and 
Ryan stressed that their goal was to help the UAE eliminate 
prohibited boycott language. 
 
4. (SBU) Davidson and Ryan presented the ministry with 
examples of prohibited boycott language in UAE documents, 
along with examples of alternative language that complied 
with anti-boycott regulations.  Al-Saleh committed to having 
the Ministry's experts review the language and look to ways 
to revise the UAE's boycott language to ensure that it 
complied with U.S. anti-boycott regulations. 
 
5. (SBU) Al-Saleh expressed concern that the statistics that 
the USG was collecting on boycott requests risked "double- 
counting."  He explained that, in some cases, when econchief 
had approached him with boycott related cases, it appeared 
as if one tender was counted as four separate prohibited 
boycott requests.  He asked if Davidson and Ryan could also 
help him tighten the Ministry's focus on the real problem 
companies, as well as fixing the language.  Davidson and 
Ryan offered to work with individual emirates, 
municipalities, state owned enterprises, and the chambers of 
commerce to help the UAEG in its efforts to eliminate 
prohibited boycott language.  Al-Saleh declined, noting that 
given the political sensitivity on the Arab League boycott, 
it would be more effective for the message to come from the 
UAEG rather than the U.S. 
 
Business Concerns about Boycott 
------------------------------- 
 
6. (SBU) On February 19, the team and Embassy Abu Dhabi 
Export Control Officer met with a representative of GIBB 
Ltd. Consulting Engineers in Abu Dhabi to discuss boycott 
related problems.  The representative expressed concern that 
some possible modifications that would comply with U.S. anti- 
boycott regulations, could be problematic under the UK's tax 
regulations. 
 
7. (SBU) In Dubai, the team, accompanied by Senior 
Commercial Officer, met with Charles Laubach, with the law 
firm of Afridi and Angell, then with Abdul Jarrar, Regional 
Government Affairs Director, Middle East, Turkey, and Africa 
for Intel, then with Eliane Masser, Regulatory Compliance 
Manager for Cisco Systems' regional office.  Laubach 
acknowledged that boycott language is still found in both 
UAE federal and municipal procurement documents.  In his 
personal experience, however, he said that he has "never 
failed to comply with U.S. law" and has always been able to 
have the language modified to comply with U.S. law.  He 
attributed much of the continued use of boycott language to 
bureaucratic lethargy, defining it as nothing more than a 
"cost of doing business" for U.S. firms (i.e., paying a few 
hours of legal fees). 
 
8. (SBU) Jarrar told the team that he had faced boycott 
issues throughout the region, but did not have details as 
his legal office handled compliance issues.  He explained 
that, even without a boycott, he perceived a public opinion 
throughout the region that the Arab League boycott was 
justified.  Masser briefed the team on CISCO's extensive 
training program on dealing with the Boycott and other 
compliance issues.  She noted that the firm did face some 
problems in that it was unable to compete for projects, 
where the language could not be removed. 
 
9. (SBU) Comment:  The UAEG continues to stress its 
commitment to eliminating cases of secondary and tertiary 
boycott requests.   This visit provided a useful opportunity 
to give the UAEG a better understanding of U.S. regulations. 
Some of the questions by UAEG officials continue to show 
confusion about the scope of U.S. law and regulations and 
the impact of UAE boycott language on U.S. companies.  The 
upcoming visit of BIS U/S McCormick will provide a useful 
opportunity to reinforce this message at a more senior 
level.  End Comment 
 
10. (U) This cable was cleared by Mr. Davidson. 
 
SISON