Visits by Douglas Hurd, Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, to Qatar, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates, January 1980, and to Saudi Arabia, Yemen Arab Republic and Kuwait, March 1980

This file concerns a visit to the Gulf by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Douglas Hurd. It contains itineraries, preliminary and follow-up correspondence, briefing documents, and records of meetings, in respect to his visits to:

• Bahrain on 19 Jan 1980; including Mr Hurd’s meeting with the Ruler of Bahrain Amir Isa Bin Salman Al Khalifa and the Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa; with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Bin Mubarak Al Khalifa; Minister of Development and Industry Yusef Shirawi
• Qatar on 20 January; including Mr Hurd’s meetings with the Amir of Qatar Sheikh Khalifa Bin Hamad Al Thani; the Defence Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani; the Foreign Minister Ahmad Bin Saeed; Education Minister Sheikh Mohammad Bin Hamad Al Thani
• UAE during 21-23 January; including Mr Hurd’s meetings with the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan; the Chamberlain of the Presidential Court of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Suroor Bin Mohammad Al Nahyan; the UAE Minister of Petroleum Mana Saeed Al Otaiba; Foreign Minister Rashid Abdulla; the Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Defence Minister Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and the Ambassador to the UK Mahdi Al Tajir; the Ruler of Sharjah Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi; and the Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah Sheikh Saqr Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi
• Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR) due to take place 6-13 March 1980; and the cancellation of his visits to Jordan and Iran.

This file also refers to the following topics arising in connection with Mr Hurd's visits:

• Discussion in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of appropriate gifts; including the suggestion of an anti-bugging kit for the Prime Minister of the YAR Abdul Aziz Abdul Ghani
• Bilateral issues
• The war in Aden and Yemen
• The Soviet Union's intervention in Afghanistan, and the effect on Pakistan
• Soviet regional policy
• British support for Oman
• US hostages in Iran
• The issue of Palestine, Israel, and the Camp David Accords, 1978
• The deportation of people from Kuwait
• UK-Libyan relations
• European Economic Community (EEC)-Gulf dialogue
• The Bahrain-Saudi causeway
• Qatar’s gas reserves
• Oil production and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
• Regional defence and armaments
• Security in the Straits of Hormuz
• The Islamic Conference Organisation (ICO)
• Two UK businessmen in gaol in Iraq-UK
• Soviet-Syrian relations
• Aid to Sudan
• The possibility of Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain joining the UAE
• The impounding of the YAR Prime Minister’s aircraft in the UK in 1979
• A briefing note on BP’s objectives in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the YAR
• A planned state visit to Jordan by President Giscard d’Estaing of France
• The Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington's [Peter Alexander Rupert Carington] visit to Turkey; Oman; Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and India