Cablegate: Saudi Arabia Not Imposing Secondary Boycott On

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TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1631
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
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UNCLAS RIYADH 001301

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ARP; NEA/IPA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON ETRD PREL SA IS
SUBJECT: SAUDI ARABIA NOT IMPOSING SECONDARY BOYCOTT ON
COMPANIES DOING BUSINESS WQISRQ

1. (U) After rQding a recent article in the Jerusalem PostQ
sQesting the Saudi governmenQ"iQsifying its
enforcement of the Arab LQgue boycott" on companies doing
business with Israel, the Embassy contacted both the Ministry
of Commerce and Industry and several American Qinesses
operating in the Kingdom for comment. Senior interlocutors
in the Ministry, the American Businessmen's Group of Riyadh,
and American companies operating here in the Kingdom stated
that the Kingdom has taken no action towards reinstating a
secondary or tertiary boycott of Israel. One company
president noted that in 20 pending procurement negotiations
there had been no mention of Israel.

2. (U) Legally, Saudi Arabia ended its secondary and tertiary
boycotts of Israel through Council of Ministers Decision No.
5 of June 13, 1995. Although there have been isolated
incidents over the years of American companies being asked to
comply with aspects of the Arab League boycott, these
requests have often come from copies of outdated contract
materials, have been retracted when identified to SAG
officials, and do not represent official SAG policy.
SMITH

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