Official Committee on the Middle East: Papers: 29-58

This file contains memoranda for the Official Committee on the Middle East’s minutes of meetings from 21 May 1958 to 19 December 1958. Those relevant to the Gulf are the memoranda concerning:

• The transport of oil from the Middle East, including a joint report by US and UK officials discussing ways in which the two governments can prevent the west becoming vulnerable to interference with the flow of oil supplies from the Middle East (29, 32)
• HMG’s future policy in Aden, including reference to: the possible changes in the constitutional and political position of Aden, and the effect these changes would have on the Gulf; and the proposal for a federation of states in the western protectorate of Aden (30, 31, 35)
• The agreement between the Arabian Oil Company and the Ruler of Kuwait Sheikh Abdulla Al Salem Al Sabah, whereby the Japanese company will be awarded an oil concession in the Kuwait neutral zone seabed (33)
• The damage of crops in the Middle East caused by drought and locusts (37)
• The effects of a serious stoppage in Middle East oil production, which may occur in 1960 or 1965 (38, 39)
• Economic relations between Britain and the Middle East, including proposals put forward by British officials to promote economic development in the Middle East (39)
• The Baghdad Pact, including summaries of: financial assistance already offered for the economic work of the Baghdad Pact, additional commitments from UK funds for economic developments, the US Development Loan Fund, and the progress being made on joint communications projects such as the Turkey-Iran railway (41)
• Oil supply to Jordan (42)
• The problem of introducing a new currency into the Gulf Sheikhdoms (44)
• HMG’s future policy in the Middle East, including reference to: the revolution in Iraq, recent events in Jordan and Lebanon, the movement towards Arab unity, and the question of how Britain’s basic requirements in the Middle East can best be secured in the new conditions that are emerging (50, 51, 52, 53, 55, 56, 57)
• The activities and influence of Cairo Radio (54)
• Iraq and the Sterling Area (58)