The Soviet Union’s summary abrogation of commercial contracts with Israeli firms after the Sinai campaign as an expression of the Kremlin’s displeasure with the Jewish State was cited today at the current session of the Economic Commission for Europe as a warning against the difficulties in dealing with State trading companies.
Henry J. Heinz, the United States delegate, made indirect reference to the experience of the Israeli companies in stressing the need for protection against non-performance of contracts by the State trading agencies. Replying to a Soviet bid for greater East-West trade, Mr. Heinz declared that the Soviet Union “could also greatly stimulate trade with the West by guaranteeing to private traders the impartial settlement of commercial disputes,”
Members of the 29-nation commission took this as a direct reference to the cancellation by the Soviet trading agencies of their contracts with Israeli concerns after the Sinai campaign and to Israel’s difficulties in presenting its case before the Soviet trade tribunal in Moscow against abrogation of the Soviet-Israel oil contracts.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.