Steering Group on Middle East Development: minutes, papers and correspondence

This file contains correspondence, memoranda, minutes of meetings, and reports by the Department for Trade and Industry’s Steering Group for Middle East Development, concerning building closer economic ties with oil-producing countries in the Middle East. It covers:

• Official visits to Gulf and Middle Eastern States, particularly Saudi Arabia, to promote closer economic cooperation through joint industrialisation and development projects
• A contract to develop Riyadh University led by British University Services Limited, and projects to increase Anglo-Saudi ties in the field of education involving the British Council
• Flow charts displaying the organisational structure of the joint Anglo-Saudi project for university development
• Debates around the nature of HMG’s involvement in the Riyadh University project
• Proposals for seminars in the UK to promote closer economic ties with Middle Eastern states
• The strengthening of economic ties with Egypt, and the preparation of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Egyptian Government
• A meeting of the Irano-British Joint Ministerial Commission in Tehran to discuss trade and joint development projects with Iran, including the proposed sale of Concorde aircraft to Iran Air; the construction of food processing plants to provide school meals in Iran; and the construction of a Tehran-Tabriz railway line led by the General Electric Company (GEC) and British Rail
• Tables displaying data on British exports to the Middle East in the years 1973-75
• Data on exports from member states of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to member states of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
• Proposals to strengthen economic ties with Syria
• The opportunities for large-scale agricultural projects in the Middle East
• The viability of the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR) as a market for British exports, and details of development projects financed by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE in the YAR
• Possible collaboration between British companies and the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD)