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Page 87 Development Division offer their comments. The enlarged fund would enable us to step in with an offer of an expert whenever it suited us politically or commercially to do so and also when the local Government was either chary of undertaking any expenditure or was turning to the wrong source of advice. In particular, the Development Division and H.M. Missions (working on advice obtained from the Board of Trade) would try to arrange "introductory " missions for British consultants at our expense, in the hope that the local Government possessing a sound preliminary report, would themselves engage the consultant on a long-term basis.

6. The best prospects for the provision of ad hoc advisers seem at the moment to lie in Persia, in Iraq (where new fields such as land settlement have to be tackled), in Kuwait, and possibly in Saudi Arabia.

Subsidies

PROVISION: £10,000 A YEAR

7. United Kingdom subsidies to employees of Middle East Governments must obviously be used with great caution. They should in any case not be spread thin but applied with reasonable liberality so as to provide the right incentive in selected quarters. A very few key jobs may require big money, e.g., the £4,000 a year now being paid as a subsidy to the British member of the Iraq Development Board. In other cases, our strategic interests may require the payment of subsidies to a number of people in one country: Libya. In general, however, it will be possible to insert suitable British employees in chosen jobs by the expenditure of small annual amounts or possibly installation grants or terminal gratuities. Cases in point are the four or five foresters required by the Persian Government who would, if appointed, practically run the Department and could make it a success which would redound to our credit. All told, it is estimated that about £10,000 a year should be allocated for subsidies for non-educational posts. In the field of education, including medical education, it seems appropriate that the British Council should administer any subsidies required. There would be close liaison with the Levant Department of the Foreign Office as regards general principles and practice in particular countries.

Technical Training

PROVISION: £10,000 A YEAR

8. No immediate measures can be proposed, but a full report will be submitted in consultation with the Board of Trade, Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Education and the British Council when the facts are known about the demand for technical training, the existing facilities, and the ways in which this country can help.

Economic Assistance

9. The question of economic aid to the Middle East countries has not been considered by the Working Party, except for the development grants to the Trucial States. The Development Division will be instructed to explore the possibilities of expanding the present grant of some £25,000 a year to the Trucial States, whose importance will grow if oil is found, and where we must in any case show our beneficent power to consolidate the Buraimi move. Our present assistance to Jordan is reviewed annually, and any alterations can then be made in the light of existing circumstances.

PROVISION FOR THE TRUCIAL COAST £6,000 A YEAR

Further Possibilities

10. It is certain that the recruitment of British experts to advise, or be employed by, Middle East Governments would be facilitated if candidates were offered the security of employment in a permanent Crown Service or if they were given substantial relief from United Kingdom taxation. Immediate results cannot be expected in either field-hence the present need for subsidies-but both problems should be examined as a matter of urgency.

TOTAL PROVISION: £26,000

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