CONFIDENTIAL BRITISH EMBASSY, 112 RECEIVED IN ARCHIVES No. 5 KUWAIT. June 12, 1963. I spoke to Sayed Ahmad Sayed Omar, the Assistant Under-Secretary in charge of Oil Affairs, on June 11, about the present position on the Neutral Zone boundary negotiations with Saudi Arabia. 2. He said that he personally and his Department had had correspondence quite recently with the Saudi Minister for Oil Affairs, Sayed Ahmad Yamani, who was willing to hold further talks now, in Riyadh or elsewhere, with Sayed Ahmad and his Technical Committee (Sayed Ashraf Lutfi and the Legal Expert Ashmaki) and seemed keen to work for a settlement. However, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs had now stepped in, asserting that this was a political matter and therefore their responsibility, and they insisted on taking over the conduct of the exchanges with the Saudis, rather ignoring the Technical Committee. 3. Sayed Ahmad had protested and he told me that although he realised that this was ultimately a political matter which would have to be brought to a final conclusion by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he considered that the Kuwaitis and Saudis should be left alone now at the technical level to thrash out the matter on a factual and technical basis and then report their recommendations to their respective Governments for them to conclude a settlement at a political level. Interference now by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would only upset the technical exchanges, probably muddle the issues, and would delay the final outcome. There was now a deadlock between his Department and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and he refused to go along with them in present circumstances unless given a free hand with his Committee. The next move now lay with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and he did not know what would happen. 4. He deplored the delay and spoke rather bitterly, pointing out that oil operations were affected, Aminoil were being debarred even longer from operating on the islands, and a settlement with the Saudis became more difficult. If they could settle this matter now with the Saudis, they would be able to present a united Kuwaiti-Saudi front to the Iranians in the sea-bed dispute to their mutual benefit. J. A. Snellgrove, Esq., Arabian Department, Foreign Office, LONDON S.W.1. CONFIDENTIAL
