مجموعة ١٧/ ١٧ "تقارير سنوية لوزارة الخارجية، ١٩٣٢-١٩٣٨، ١٩٤٧. استعراض سنوي للأحداث ١٩٣٩-١٩٤٢. استعراض سياسي ١٩٤٣-١٩٤٤" [ظ‎‎١‎٣‎٧] (٤٨٣/٢٧٤)

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203. A Japanese trade delegation came to Bagdad in April, presumably
in the hope of reaching some agreement to safeguard Japanese commercial
interests in Iraq in the changed circumstances. The delegation held protracted
discussions with representatives of the Iraqi Government, and attempts were
made to devise some method of ensuring a more balanced trading relationship
between the two countries. No agreement was, however, reached, and it is
probable that the fact that Japan wants nothing produced by Iraq which she
cannot obtain more advantageously elsewhere proved to be an insuperable
difficulty.
204. In August 1935 an amending law to the Iraqi Tariff Law of 1933 was
passed enabling the Government to limit, by regulation of the Ministry of
Finance, the importation of goods from any country or countries, if such a course
is deemed desirable in the general economic interest of Iraq. So far no action
has been taken under this amendment, but it is evidently aimed against Japan.
United Kingdom.
205. At the time of the World Economic Conference in 1933, the Iraqi
Government put forward a request that the United Kingdom duty on Iraqi dates
should be abolished. This request was repeated by the Iraqi Minister in London
in a note dated the 29th May, 1934.
206. Early in 1935 His Majesty’s Government decided that they could not
comply with the Iraqi Government’s request unless they secured, in exchange,
some compensating advantage for United Kingdom trade. In return for the
abolition of the United Kingdom import duty on dates in bulk, His Majesty’s
Government desired that the Iraqi Government should—
(a) Take steps to restore the United Kingdom share of the Iraqi cotton
piece-goods trade to the proportion which the United Kingdom
enjoyed during the five years ending the 31st March, 1932.
(&) Introduce into the Iraqi Customs Tariff a provision to the effect that the
duties on certain woollen goods should not exceed 25 per cent, ad
valorem.
(c) Reclassify in a specified manner the Iraqi customs duties on motor
vehicles.
207. The possibility of concluding an agreement on these lines was carefully
explored, but little or no progress had been made by the end of the year. Of
the advantages which His Majesty’s Government wish to secure, by far the most
important is that in respect of cotton piece-goods. This could most easily be
arranged by the institution of some system of quotas based upon the average
imports from various countries over a period of years; but the Iraqi Government
appear to find it difficult either to depart in this manner from their normal tariff
policy or to devise an alternative method of favouring United Kingdom cotton
piece-goods.
India.
208. In 1934 the Iraqi Government had complained, through His Majesty’s
Embassy, to the Government of India that the balance of trade between the two
countries was weighted unduly in favour of India, and had requested that the
Indian tariff rates on the chief items of export from Iraq should be reduced.
Early in 1935 the Government of India asked His Majesty’s Embassy to point
out to the Iraq Government that the majority of the important Iraqi exports to
India were on the free list. Hates were an exception, but the duty on dates
was based upon the market price of each year’s crop, and there was no
discrimination against the produce of Iraq. They argued, also, that India’s
apparent favourable trade balance was illusory, since a great portion of the goods
entered in the Iraqi trade returns as being of Indian origin were, in^fact,
Japanese goods reconsigned from Indian ports. The Iraqi Government
maintained, however, that there was in effect discrimination against the better
qualities of Basra dates, and the Government of India, though unable to accept
this contention, promised to consider favourably the reduction of duty on certain
qualities of dates, and did, in fact, put into effect some small reductions shortly
afterwards. The Iraqi Ministry for Foreign Affairs returned no reply to the