The reference books, following visits and subsequent boosting of trade in Iraq and Saudi Arabia, were of great use to Indian exporters. The 57th part of a series describing the unknown triumphs and travails of doing international business

The construction activities in Iraq and Saudi Arabia caused builders and other merchants to look for new and guaranteed sources of supplies. Among Indian merchants, one of the most dynamic was MS Dewan, a pioneer in marketing a great number of products to Saudi Arabia.

As all his buyers were looking forward to increasing supplies of bathroom fittings, etc, he was shrewd enough to open an office in London; his eldest son began to make inroads in Italy and soon they were one of the leading suppliers to Saudi Arabia.
 
In case of Iraq, however, there was hardly anything that was left in the private hands. Almost every item relating to building materials were imported by the government-owned companies, with whom suppliers had to register and only actual manufacturers were given orders. From time to time tenders were floated; government offices closed by 3pm and the main banker, government-controlled, would open the Letters of Credit.
 
Thanks to the continuous support I received from NK Nair, the former commercial attaché in Baghdad, I had made a few trips and cultivated a number of contacts in various departments.  At this point of time, we had a bright Iraqi named Khalid George Talia in the Indian Embassy, who was not only bright, but had spent a few years in New Delhi as a student and knew the Indian conditions. Most importantly, he was fluent in Hindi and could understand a little Punjabi as well. He was an invaluable asset to the Embassy.
 
Another regular visitor was Krishnan from the leading steel and pressure vessel exporter, VD Swami & Co of Madras.  I would say that Krishnan spent almost six months a year in Baghdad and as many in Beirut. He was kind enough to pass on many of his contacts for promoting Indian goods in the region.
 
I remember that one of the most important features was the Baghdad International Fair, held in September each year. There was great demand for participating space and for displaying goods in the Fair, because this gave an opportunity not only to exhibit the products, but also sell them at the end of the Fair. Most of the exhibitors also got orders for goods displayed.  There were, of course, complaints of favouritism for getting the quotas on these orders; and, for the first time, as I was present during the fair, we organized a meeting of all the exporters at the Ambassador hotel, invited the commercial secretary to join the deliberations and in the end, everyone appeared to be happy with the quota distribution.
 
It was during this fair, we had the pleasure of being exposed to an important and yet luxurious delicacy called 'masgoof'. Actually, it was on the banks of the river Tigris, where one could walk around and find, many restaurants, with live fish (3 to 5 kg each), swimming in the bathroom tubs!  The buyer would choose the fish, and in a few moments the fish would be killed and vertically cut, like opening a banana leaf, with basically some salt and pepper, and exposed to fire in a bon-fire like circles. Only beers and onions will be served along with khubbas (Arabic bread). It was my first experience, but, the next Friday, I managed to get a masala made with garlic, chilly, pepper and onions etc and even the restaurant owner enjoyed the fare!
 
The Market Survey Report of Iraq, after my submission on my return to Beirut, was actually published as a handy reference book in January 1974. It became a popular seller for the Council.
 
Once again, my services were required by exporters, which this time, involved supplies of galvanised steel pipes to a customer in Jeddah. The supplies were delayed and the ship had short-landed the goods in the port, part of which were still lying in Bombay.  This fact was unknown to the exporter, and the importer on receipt of documents, had been to the port only to find that popular items like 1/2 to 2 inch sizes were missing! He refused to accept the documents because of this serious lapse and discrepancy. Ghulam Masood of Indian origin, who had settled down in Jeddah, was a regular visitor to Indian Embassy.
 
Though the courtesy of Bijli, the commercial attaché, I was introduced to him earlier. I did find him to be frank and straight forward in his dealings. But because of the circumstances in the market, he was not in a position to clear the goods, pay for the full consignment and wait for the balance to arrive, which was not guaranteed. Any amount of assurance by the shipping company would not pacify his anger, and for a businessman it was the question of making money at the most opportune time, when the market needed the goods! Meantime, the goods were incurring demurrage, and he demanded that this be paid first and sought an agreement that he was willing to pay the money to the bank but not release it until his balance of goods were delivered!
 
The exporter had approached the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for permission to effect the remittance for demurrage, but this was increasing by the day. On approaching the Council, they authorized me to resolve the issue, provided the exporter met my travel expenses.
 
Due to my contacts with the Saudi Embassy, I was able to take a visit visa to Jeddah, after discussing the issue with the embassy, I went to the port and spent several hours, spread over two days, walking up and down the port, only to discover that the goods actually had been dumped in different lots and got mixed up with some other importer's goods in another part of the port.
 
With a great amount of persuasion, I managed to get the demurrage charges reduced considerably, arranged for payment, by selling the goods to a third party, and had the matter resolved in about a week's time. I think, the market price had turned favourable in the interim period and we were able to settle the issue, and effect the payment to the exporter, thanks to the support from the embassy.
 
But after settling this dispute, I took a quick trip to Riyadh and Dammam also, and having been a regular visitor, was able to compile a great deal of information on this country. While exporters from the Muslim community took the opportunity to visit the country and take the privilege to visit the holy sites, other exporters, particularly vegetarians tend to avoid the visit or make it as short as possible, though, in my own experience, everything was available and vegetarians should not have any such preconceived notions. I found Saudis also friendly but stricter in dealings and would not tolerate delays.
 
After this visit, on my return, I submitted my "Market Survey Report on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia", and this, as a handy reference book was published in November 1974.
 
In the meantime, many political upheavals took place in the region. Nasser's death was a shock to most. King Saud was assassinated in the palace itself; King Hussain had the worst of clashes with the PLO; Yom Kippur War in 1973, in which Anwar Sadat had the Egyptian
Army crossed the Suez Canal on the holiest day in Judaism, which also happened to be during the Ramadan period were important events that we witnessed. And, of course, in the Indian sub-continent it was the creation of Bangladesh in December 1971 that really brought about the change in the area. The UAE was formed, thus united seven sheikhdoms into a union, with Abu Dhabi Sheikh as the president.
 
The Lebanese government changed, with Suleiman Franjieh taking over as president and Rashid Karami as premier. The Palestinian refugees continued to live in Lebanon, and get into trouble with the law once in a while, breaking the peaceful coexistence, at the cost of hospitable and friendly Lebanese people.

(AK Ramdas has worked with the Engineering Export Promotion Council of the ministry of commerce and was associated with various committees of the Council. His international career took him to places like Beirut, Kuwait and Dubai at a time when these were small trading outposts; and later to the US. He can be contacted at [email protected].)