Zim Integrated Shipping Services Ltd. chairman Idan Ofer has expressed his support for the agreement that would give the United Arab Emirates (UAE) port management company Dubai Ports World, control of six key ports in the US.
According to a report on “CNN”, Ofer wrote to Senator Hilary Clinton (Dem: NY) who is leading the campaign against the deal, stating that “We have not had a security issue in these ports or in any of the terminals operated by Dubai Ports World and are proud to be associated with them.” His statement came amid calls by the Bush administration on the UAE to distance itself from the Arab boycott against Israel.
”CNN” reported this evening that Ofer had joined the campaign in favor of allowing the agreement with Dubai Ports World to go forward. The agreement with the UAE ports operator taking control of six key ports in the US, including New York and Miami.
Ofer’s support for the Dubai Ports World deal is exceptional, given the reports that Bush administration has now called on the UAE to distance itself from the Arab boycott against Israel, although it is not clear at this stage, whether the request would be a precondition for approval of the ports management agreement.
The administration has formed an inter-departmental committee to assess the potential risk to national security that the deal poses.
At Congressional hearings on the deal last week, Dubai Ports World deputy director Ted Bilkey said this week at the congressional hearings that Zim was a longstanding customer of his company and had never been discriminated against. In an effort to change legislators’ hostility towards the entry of Dubai Ports World, Bilkey stressed that the company had strong ties with the Zim CEO, whose name he refused to mention, a statement which in light of Ofer’s comments was not an exaggeration.
”During our long association with Dubai Ports World we have not experienced a security issue in these ports or in any of the terminals operated by them,” said Ofer in his letter to Clinton, adding, “We are proud to be associated with with Dubai Ports World and look forward to continue working with it in the future.”
Ofer noted in his letter that to bypass the Arab boycott Zim sent its ships to ports in Dubai under foreign flags, rather than its own.
A spokesperson for Senator Clinton said in response that Ofer’s letter was one of many that his office received, both for and against the deal, and that Clinton was awaiting the outcome of the security evaluation by the administration’s inter-departmental committee.
Columnist Robert Novak revealed that Senator Clinton’s husband, former US President Bill Clinton earlier advised the UAE company to hire his former White House spokesman to improve its image in the US, but negotiations failed to reach to reach fruition due to a disagreement over retainer fees. The former spokesman has since denied that former president Clinton advised Dubai Ports World on its US strategy.
The six US ports scheduled for transfer to Dubai Ports World have until now been controlled by the London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation, which was recently acquired by Dubai Ports World for $6.8 billion.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on March 5, 2006