Arab, U.S contacts to lift the embargo on Arab investment bank

The US government is expected to lift the embargo on the U.S. accounts of the Arab Bank for investment and foreign trade totalling $70 million. A bank source said the Libyan, UAE, and Algerian governments own shares in the bank.

The source said contacts carried out with the Bureau for Foreign Asset Supervision the US State Department in November 1997 met with US approval.

The bank management demands lifting the embargo imposed on its accounts in the U.S. because the bank is a U.A.E bank and Libya's share in it constitutes a minority and the frozen accounts return to parties other than Libya.

It is not the first time contacts were made with the U.S. administration in order to lift the embargo imposed on banks.