KUWAIT, Oct. 1 -- Kuwait's trade activity will most likely be unaffected by the Gulf Cooperation Council states' decision to lift the economic boycott against corporations that trade with Israel since the ban was only loosely enforced over the past few years, Kuwait's Customs Office said Saturday. 'There will be no change in our trading policy or rules because of the statement,' said Customs Director Ibrahim al-Ghanem. Kuwait had effectively terminated enforcement of secondary and tertiary aspects of the Israeli boycott following its 1991 liberation from Iraqi occupation, he said. The six GCC states -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- announced Friday at U.N. headquarters in New York that it was officially lifting the secondary and tertiary restrictions of the boycott law. The GCC move will allow Arab countries to trade with companies who had been put on a blacklist because of their direct dealings with Israel. The Arab League declared the boycott over 46 years ago to isolate Israel and Friday's statement leaves the primary boycott, which bans direct trade with Israel, uneffected. The GCC states did say they would encourage the Arab League to lift the boycott still in effect throughout the Arab world directed from the Arab Boycott of Israel Office headquarters in Damascus. Host country Syria has frequently said it will not relax its position until Israel returns all Arab territories captured since 1967. Although no formal directives or announcement regarding the lifting of the boycott had been handed to Kuwait's Ministry of Commerce, officials said they did not expect any radical changes in the trade flow.
Undersecretary for Foreign Trade Affairs Bader Abdul-Rahman said Kuwait was still enforcing the Arab League's primary boycott against Israel. Western diplomats in Kuwait said Friday's announcement was 'purely symbolic' with regard to the emirate, since it has been trading with companies dealing with Israel for quite some time. 'However its a good thing to see the GCC as a collective body making a statement on the issue. They are finally acting together and this clears the air on the matter,' said one diplomat. After its liberation in 1991, Kuwait felt it necessary to exclude itself from the Arab League's ban since so many U.S. and other Western firms who helped in the post-war reconstruction had trading ties with Israel. Other GCC nations had also relaxed their trade with firms dealing with Israel despite continued lip service to the Arab League- imposed embargo. The U.S. had been urging all Arab countries, specifically the GCC states, to ease the Israel trade ban since Jordan and the Palestinian's signed peace accords with Israel. U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher, who welcomed the statement, said the U.S. supports any efforts GCC states make in steps to do away with the boycott in its entirety. A full lifting of the boycott can only be made by the Arab League if there is a unanimous agreement by all members. The Kuwait News Agency reported that GCC states are expected to make additional smaller, but symbolically significant steps with regard to trade with Israel. The steps include permitting tourists and businessmen to enter any of the GCC countries using passports that reflect travel to Israel, overflights by foreign airlines landing in Israel, transshipments of mail through and to Israel, and calls by foreign flagships that stop in Israeli ports.
