Ext 878/48 'Establishment of USA consulate at Kuwait' [‎5r] (9/34)

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with the Sheikh and other authorities of Kuwait State
would be our political agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. # Latter would, of course,
do everything possible to help your consular repre
sentative and to ensure that interests of US citizens
are fully cared for.
*If these arrangements are acceptable to the State
Department and you will let us know, we will at once
send necessary instructions to our authorities in
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. to put them into effect and to give
every possible help to US consular representative
at Basra in carrying out his functions in Kuwait
The Embassy explained that the British Government was
unwilling to weaken the special treaty relationship which
it enjoys with Kuwait and feared that should an American
Consulate be established in Kuwait demands for similar
facilities would be made by Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, and
possibly Soviet Russia. The Foreign Office believed that
a fair trial should be given the procedure suggested in
its letter of April 15, whereby the American Consul at Basra
would undertake informal consular representation in Kuwait
though remaining resident at Basra.
The Consul at Basra has for a considerable period been
endeavoring to perform consular services for the large
American community in Kuwait by coitespondence and by visits
to Kuwait on a monthly basis. Notwithstanding the sin
cerity and extent of the Consult endeavors, his experience
has shown that the arrangement is unsatisfactory, and that
it is inherently incapable of working satisfactorily. The
needs for having a Consul resident in Kuwait are real, urgent
and immediate. They have been brought repeatedly to the
attention of the Department during the past year by the Gulf
Oil Company which has a fifty-percent interest in the Kuwait
Oil Company^ concession in Kuwait, covering the largest
proven petroleum reserves of any field in the Near East.
More recently the American Independent Oil Company, a wholly
American concern which has obtained an oil concession for
the Shaikh of Kuwait*s undivided half interest in the so-
called Kuwait-Saudi Arabian Neutral Zone, has also urgently
requested the Department to establish a Consulate in Kuwait
so that routine consular services will be available to the
large number of American employees and their families it
will soon be sending to Kuwait.
The fundamental fact is that in Kuwait, as in every other
ar« where such needs for consular services exist they must
be handled by a resident consular officer personally and on a
day-to-day basis. The following are examples of these needs:
A. Citizenship work: V/ith hundreds of American already
resident in the Kuwait district and additional large numbers
expected to proceed there in connection with oil enterprises
and construction programs, there is a constant demand for
consular/
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