Israeli labor leaders will not be allowed to attend an international conference, organized by the International Federation of the Mineral Workers, scheduled to begin this week in Algeria.
In denying the Israelis an invitation, the International Federation of Mineral Workers, which is based in London, acceded to an appeal by the chairman of the General Trade Union for Engineering and Mineral Industries in Egypt, who is also leading his delegation tot he conference in Algeria. The Egyptian trade made the Israeli’s non-participation at the event a precondition for the Egyptian’s participation. In his letter, the Egyptian stated the official of the Egyptian workers trade union of any contact or relation with Israel.
In January, Egypt’s Union of Chambers of Commerce (UCC) avoided a potentially embarrassing with a number of European Chambers of Commerce by delaying " indefinitely" the second ArchiMedes conference of the Euro-Mediterranean (Euro-Med) chambers of commerce, which had been scheduled to take place that month in Cairo. The situation arose from the Egyptian union’s refusal to extend an invitation to the Federation of Israeli Chamber of Commerce, which also is a member of the Euro-Med partnership. In explaining its decision, the Egyptian organization said that it had a firm policy of not dealing with any Israeli governmental or non-governmental organizations until Israel ends its occupation of Arab lands and complies with UN Security Council resolutions.
At the time, sources told Abawaba-MEBG that initially the Egyptians were not keen to cancel the conference, but when they informed Eurochambres, the umbrella organization of European Chambers of Commerce, about their opposition to Israeli participation, the Europeans informed them that it was not Egypt who decided to whom invitations could or could not be extended. As a result, the Egyptians decided to delay the entire event.– (Albawaba-MEBG)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
