Coll 28/85 ‘Persia. Relations with H.M.G. Anglo-Persian Oil Company.’ [‎7r] (13/380)

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Section 1.
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Exchange of Letters, dated the 2^th May, 1943, between Sir William Fraser, cm
behalf of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company {Limited), and M. F. Noury
Esfandiary, Oil Delegate of the Persian Government in London.—(Received
in Foreign Office the 2%th May)
( 1 )
Sir W. Fraser to M. F. Noury Esfandiary.
Dear Excellency, 2Mh May, 1943.
MY colleagues and I have given the most careful thought to your letter of
the 31st December, 1942, informing me of the instructions received by you from
the Imperial Persian Government.
The company agreed in the early part of the present war to make extra
payments over the sums due under the terms of the concession, without any
prejudice whatever to the articles thereof, the company having always carried out
faithfully all its concessional obligations. This was done solely with a view to
giving assistance to the Imperial Government in the exceptional circumstances
created by the war in Europe and the arrangement included a stipulation that
its duration should be limited to the period up to the end of 1941 and that
payments made were outwith the concession and would not affect its terms or
create a precedent.
My company also undertook to confer with a view to reaching an arrangement
agreeable to both parties in regard to the period after 1941, and is, moreover, most
anxious to foster the spirit of goodwill towards Persia, where we have worked
for so many years and will work for many years to come under the concession
agreement of 1933. Therefore, as an arrangement quite apart from the concession,
I am glad to be able to inform your Excellency that the Board has authorised
me to agree that with effect from the 1st January, 1942, the company will make
up the sums due on account of royalty tonnage, dividend participation, taxation
and'gold premium to Four Million Pounds Sterling (£4,000,000) in total in respect
of each year ending the 31st December in which the aggregate sum payable under
articles 10 and 11 of the concession should not reach this figure, up to and
including the year in which hostilities between the United Kingdom and both
Germany and Italy cease as a result of the conclusion of a general armistice; or,
if armistices are concluded with those Powers separately, the year in which the
later armistice is concluded. Thereafter all payments to be made by the company
shall be regulated by the terms of the concession.
Yours sincerely
w. frAser.
( 2 )
M. F. Noury Esfandiary to Sir W. Fraser.
Imperial Persian Delegation to the
Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (Limited),
Dear Sir William, 24£A May, 1943.
I AM writing to acknowledge, with thanks and appreciation, receipt of your
letter of the 24th May, 1943. I note with satisfaction your concurrence in the
arrangement set out therein, which I have pleasure in confirming on behalf of my
JUS
Copy No. 1 i y