US embassy cable - 04ABUDHABI3054

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 003054 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/PI 
STATE PASS USTR FOR JASON BUNTIN AND DOUG BELL 
USDOC FOR BIS/NWEANT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KBCT, KMPI, ECON, ETRD, TC 
SUBJECT:  ARAB LEAGUE BOYCOTT: NETAFIM 
 
1.  (SBU) On September 7, EconChief met with Ministry of 
Finance Assistant Undersecretary Khalid Al-Bustani to 
discuss efforts to resolve Arab League Boycott concerns and 
specifically to see about getting the UAE to remove Netafim 
USA from its list of banned companies.  In an August 18 
conversation, Al-Bustani said that he wanted to try and 
resolve Netafim's problem quickly and requested that 
EconChief facilitate a meeting between him and Netafim.  He 
also committed to working to solve the more systemic 
problem of the secondary boycott and suggested that the USG 
bring it up as a topic at the next TIFA council.  (Note: We 
have switched our efforts to resolve Netafim from the 
Ministry of Economy and Commerce, which manages the Arab 
League Boycott Office, to the Ministry of Finance and 
Industry because it is the lead UAE agency on the TIFA 
council, and because they have been very successful in 
resolving TIFA-related issues.)  Netafim has not yet 
identified a Netafim official who would be able to meet 
with the UAEG. 
 
2. (SBU) EconChief explained that Netafim was incorporated 
in New York and that it had a manufacturing facility in 
California. It had operated in the UAE previously, but is 
now on the Arab League boycott list as an Israeli company. 
Al-Bustani again stated that he wanted to resolve the 
problem and asked whether Netafim had responded to his 
request for a meeting.  After EconChief responded in the 
negative, Al-Bustani said that it would be a much more 
difficult and slow process to resolve the issue through the 
UAE interagency absent such a meeting. 
 
3. (SBU) Al Bustani explained that, as a member of the TIFA 
Council, he could meet with Netafim representatives, hear 
their concerns and use this with other agencies.  Absent a 
meeting, he had a weaker case: he was operating on second- 
hand information and worried that his UAEG counterparts 
would deprecate the problem if Netafim chose not to present 
its own case.  Al-Bustani promised to again talk to 
Minister of State for Finance and Industry Khirbash about 
how to resolve the Netafim case, but urged EconChief to 
again try and facilitate a meeting with Netafim.  He 
suggested that, if they could not meet earlier, Netafim 
officials could meet with him in Washington around the 
October 4-5 TIFA council meeting. 
 
4. (SBU) Comment and Action Request: Embassy requests that 
NEA/PI contact Netafim's lawyer in Washington and urge once 
again that Netafim meet with a UAEG official and to pass on 
Al-Bustani's offer of an early October meeting.  Al Bustani 
has effectively used the Ministry's role as the lead UAE 
agency on TIFA issues and the UAEG's interest in 
negotiating a FTA to resolve a number of issues.  Post can 
attest to the effectiveness of direct meetings between 
companies and the Ministry of Finance (with Embassy 
facilitation and participation if the U.S. companies 
desire) in resolving other issues.  Both MinState Khirbash 
and Al-Bustani understand that this is an important issue 
to resolve.  We believe that we can best facilitate this 
quickly by bringing the two parties together.  End Comment 
and Action Request. 
 
Sison