The Radio Corporation of America has been added to the Arab blacklist of firms doing business with Israel, it was reported here this weekend from Kuwait where the Boycott Bureau of the Arab League has been holding a week-long meeting.
The Kuwait Radio previously announced that Ford Motor Company and the Coca-Cola Corporation were added to the blacklist during the meeting. Mohammed Mahgoub, commissioner general of the boycott bureau said the ban on RCA covered “all branches of the firm everywhere.” Each member state decides whether and how the ban will be applied in its territory and Tunisia has been boycotting Arab League meetings.
In a related development, Egyptian assets of Ford were frozen by three Alexandria banks. Hans Stock, general manager of Ford operations in Egypt, denied reports that the action had been taken because the American firm had refused to assure the Arab League that it would not operate in Israel. Ford recently entered into an agreement with an Israeli firm to assemble Ford vehicles in Israel.
Mr. Stock said that the banks froze Ford funds in Egypt pending settlement of a $1,840,000 customs claim. Egyptian law requires payment of a customs duty on completed cars assembled in the Alexandria free zone. Ford has paid duty only on imported parts of the completed units and not on locally supplied items such as tires, batteries, upholstery and labor. (In Detroit, Ford officials declined comment on the report of the freezing of company assets in Alexandria.)
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