883.6113/76
The Minister in Egypt (Jardine) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 2.]
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Department’s instruction No. 197 of January 17, 1933, directing me at some convenient opportunity to point out to the appropriate Egyptian authorities in an informal manner that, while my Government does not intend to make any formal protest in the matter of the limitation of bids for the construction of a dam at Gebel Awlia, in the Sudan, to seven specified British firms and such others as the Ministry of Public Works may approve, my Government wishes the Egyptian Government to understand clearly that it can only look with disfavor upon arrangements which prevent American interests from enjoying opportunities in Egypt equal to those accorded to other foreign interests.
On the occasion of a call which I made at the Foreign Office on April 11, 1933, I took advantage of the opportunity, after the discussion of a number of other matters, to inform His Excellency Mohamed Helmy Issa Pasha, Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs, that I had been instructed to discuss in an informal manner the decision of the Egyptian Government to limit the acceptance of bids for the construction of a [Page 848] dam at Gebel Awlia, in the Sudan, to those tendered by seven specified British firms and such others as the Ministry of Public Works may approve.
I added that I had been instructed by my Government to point out informally to the Royal Egyptian Government that, while the Government of the United States did not intend to make any formal protest in the present instance, it desired the Royal Egyptian Government to be clearly apprised of the fact that the American Government could only look with disfavor upon arrangements which prevent American interests from enjoying economic opportunities in Egypt equal to those accorded to other foreign countries.
His Excellency stated that the Egyptian Government did not consider the present agreement between Egypt and Great Britain, with respect to awarding the contract for the construction of the Gebel Awlia Dam, as falling within the same category as other contracts, in as much as the work is to be carried out in the Sudan where the British are in control, adding that his Government fully recognizes the equality of all foreign economic interests in Egypt and has no intention of making any arrangements which might prevent American interests from enjoying opportunities in Egypt equal to those accorded to other foreign countries.
Respectfully yours,