740.00112 European War 1939/2131½: Telegram
The Consul General at Beirut (Engert) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 24—1:30 p.m.]
19. Consulate General’s telegrams Nos. 140, December 4, 1940, and 16 and 17 of January 22, 1941.20 I am informed by the British Consulate General that it has received a communication from the Ministry of Economic Warfare stating that in pursuance of its general economic policy toward the French mandated territories of the Levant it is desirous that no Syrian goods shall be exported via Basra unless covered by a navicert or a certificate of origin issued at Beirut after reference to London. The British Consulate General is instructed to report to the Ministry and to the British Consul at Basra any case which may come to its notice of local merchants or others attempting to export Syrian products via Basra without having obtained the relevant documents.
The communication from the Ministry gives no indication of the principles on which it is granting or refusing applications referred to it by the British Consul General here and the latter believes from his experience that it is treating each application on its own merits.
In view of the last sentence in paragraph 2 of my telegram No. 16, January 22, could the Department inform me for my guidance whether American ships loading at Basra are in fact accepting cargo for the United States without navicerts?
Repeated by mail to Baghdad.
- Telegrams Nos. 16 and 17 not printed.↩