The plan for West German Republic guarantees for work by a group of West German firms on the first stages of the Aswan high dam project in Egypt has the approval of the United States, it was reported today by the British daily press
According to these reports, United States approval was a result of the conferences between Assistant Secretary of State William Rountree and President Nasser of the United Arab Republic.
The reports also indicated that final United States approval was contingent on three conditions. These were that the UAR must agree with Sudan on the joint use of the Nile head waters, that there must be no joint enterprises with the Russians and that all farms and townsfolk displaced by the dam project should be adequately compensated.
The press reported also that no specific political conditions were attached to the project by the German firms. Businessmen from Japan, Switzerland and Italy were reported considering joining the West Germans in financing the loan for the construction of the dam.
The background of the new UAR-Western readiness to cooperate on such projects was seen by diplomats in London as stemming from the steady increase of Soviet influence in Iran and Iraq. The observers were reported as convinced that East-West completion in helping Col. Nasser would increase steadily.
It was confirmed yesterday, for example, that the United States was ready to lease a very large U.S. Army dredge, Essayons, to the UAR for work on the Mediterranean approaches to the Suez Canal. The agreement to lease the dredge was part of a program to permit passage of vessels of deeper draft through the canal. The contract was awarded to three American firms at very favorable terms to the United Arab Republic.
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