Visits by Douglas Hurd, Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, to Saudi Arabia, Yemen Arab Republic and Kuwait; briefs

This file concerns a visit to the Gulf by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Douglas Hurd. It contains four briefing folders - for Saudi Arabia, the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR), Kuwait, and one marked 'general briefs' - which refer to:

• Itineraries
• The Saudi economy, trade and joint ventures; consular matters, including the death of UK national Helen Smith; concorde overflights in Saudi airspace; and Saudi policy towards Yemen
• Saudi-Egyptian relations; and a record of Lord Carrington’s [Peter Alexander Rupert Carington] talks with the Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Bin Faisal Al Saud on 14 January 1980
• A political assessment of Yemen; the seizure of a Yemeni aircraft in Britain; an unofficial trade embargo against UK goods; investment and trade; notes from a meeting on 22 November 1979 between the Trade Secretary John Nott and the Prime Minister of the YAR Abdul Aziz Abdul Ghani; UK aid to YAR; the British Council; English language teaching in YAR; and events in Yemen, Somalia, Ethiopia and the influence of the Soviet Union
• Kuwait’s economy; Kuwait-UK trade, industrial projects and technical cooperation; the activities of the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development and the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development; the British Council in Kuwait; bilateral defence matters and aviation; the UK's diplomatic accommodation; BP, Shell and British National Oil Corporation (BNOC) activities in Kuwait
• BP’s relations with Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and YAR
• World oil supply and price
• The Arab Satellite Communications Organisation (ARABSAT) telecommunications project
• Settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict and US policy
• Security in the Straits of Hormuz
• European Economic Community (EEC)-Gulf dialogue
• The US hostages in Iran
• Iranian relations with Iraq and other Arab states
• Proposals for Afghanistan's neutrality, and Soviet, Indian and Pakistani policy