US embassy cable - 04ABUDHABI3205

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABU DHABI 003205 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EB A/S WAYNE AND DAS DONNELY 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/ARP, NEA/PI 
STATE PASS USTR FOR CATHY NOVELLI 
USDOC FOR BIS/NWEANT 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL 9/15/14 
TAGS: KBCT, KMPI, ECON, ETRD, TC 
SUBJECT:  ARAB LEAGUE BOYCOTT: THE UAE WILL NOT BOYCOTT 
U.S. COMPANIES 
 
CLASSIFIED BY AMBASSADOR MICHELE SISON FOR REASONS 1.5 (B 
AND D) 
 
REF: ABU DHABI 3054 
 
1. (U) This is an action request.  Please see paragraph 6. 
 
2. (SBU) Summary:  MFA U/S Abdulla Rashid Al-Noaimi 
(defacto number 2) told the Ambassador on September 15 that 
the UAE had renounced implementation of the Secondary and 
Tertiary aspects of the Arab League Boycott and would not 
boycott any U.S. company, "no matter what Damascus 
decides."  He emphasized that it would not make sense at 
all for the UAE to boycott U.S. companies when the UAE was 
clearly interested in moving toward a FTA with the U.S. 
Al-Noaimi promised to try and resolve the specific case of 
Netafim (reftel) before the October 4 TIFA council meeting 
and asked for more information to work on resolving the 
more systemic problem of prohibited boycott requests.  He 
was perturbed by the data provided by the Ambassador that 
showed an increase over the past year in prohibited 
requests.  End Summary. 
 
3. (SBU) Ambassador and EconChief called on MFA U/S Al- 
Noaimi on September 15 to voice strong concern about 
increases in prohibited boycott requests in the UAE over 
the last two years.  Ambassador explained that the number 
of prohibited requests has increased to 71 in the first 6 
months of this year from 60 in the first six months of last 
year.  She provided Al-Noaimi with data and specific 
examples of prohibited language, noting that the 
information had already been shared with senior UAEG 
officials at the Ministry of Economy and Commerce and the 
Ministry of Finance and Industry.  She stressed that the 
USG's position on the boycott was a matter of law and that, 
if not resolved, this problem would have a negative impact 
on the UAE's efforts to move to FTA negotiations.  AUSTR 
Cathy Novelli had already spelled out these concerns to UAE 
Ambassador Al Asri Al Dhari on July 16 in Washington, she 
added. 
 
4. (SBU) Al-Noaimi replied that the UAE had no interest in 
boycotting U.S. companies.  He added that it made "no 
sense" to boycott a U.S. company when the UAE was 
interested in negotiating a FTA with the U.S.  He then 
asked for as much additional information as we could 
provide on the specifics of prohibited boycott requests by 
Saturday, September 17, so that he could go to Ministry of 
Economy/Commerce counterparts to work through the systemic 
problems of obsolete forms and entrenched bureaucrats. He 
agreed that this needed to be fixed. 
 
5. (C) Ambassador then raised the specific case of Netafim 
USA and explained that the UAE anti boycott office had 
informed this American company that it considered it an 
Israeli company and subject to the boycott.  Al-Noaimi 
said, "I don't care if it is 'an Israeli company.'  If it 
is incorporated in the U.S., it is an American company." 
He emphasized that, whatever decision the Arab League 
Boycott Office in Damascus took on listing a company, if it 
was an American company, "it was a UAE decision, not a 
Damascus decision, and the UAE wants American companies 
here."  Al-Noaimi said "let's resolve this before the TIFA 
Council meeting in October."  He noted that the Ministry of 
Economy and Commerce had a number of third country 
nationals and bureaucrats who "didn't always have the best 
interest of the country at heart" or necessarily understand 
UAEG policy imperatives.  The 1994 UAEG renunciation of the 
secondary and tertiary aspects of the boycott was UAEG 
policy, he emphasized. 
 
6. (SBU) Comment and Action Request:  Ambassador stressed 
the importance of this issue and its negative effect on any 
potential FTA negotiations.  Al-Noaimi focused quickly on 
the urgency of solving the practical problems facing U.S. 
companies in the UAE.  The Ambassador intends to raise the 
boycott issue with Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of State 
for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed on Tuesday, 
September 26.  We will also be following up with the 
Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Finance to monitor 
progress on the prohibited requests issue.  We request that 
the Department of Commerce anti-boycott office provide us 
with further details and information that we can pass to 
the MFA by Friday September 17 on prohibited boycott 
requests.  End Comment and Action Request. 
 
Sison