US–Irad Business Council

The US–Irad Business Council was a Washington trade association of American companies with business in the Territory of Irad. It was founded in 1995 and wound up in 2008. Its members included Chevron, KBR, Conagra, Cargill and Motorola, together with smaller contractors and traders.^[1]

Activities

The council lobbied Congress and the executive branch on the territory's trade and labor rules. It supported the duty-free access to the US market that Irad's goods enjoyed as a territory, and it opposed the quota under the entry clause of the Alimbekov-Baker Treaty, because its members wanted to bring more Iradi nurses and engineers to the United States.^[1] In 2005 and 2006 it campaigned against withdrawal from the treaty. Its chairman told a hearing of the House of Representatives in 2006 that leaving would "hand the pipeline to whoever shouts loudest".^[2] After the withdrawal of December 2006 and the Second Iradi Civil War the council lost most of its purpose, and it was wound up in 2008.^[1]

American Chamber of Commerce in Irad

The American Chamber of Commerce in Irad was founded in Talas in 1996 as the local counterpart of the council. Its members, managers of American firms in Talas and Nurzhan, met for a Thursday lunch at a hotel by Talas Air Base. In February 2007 Erlan Toktarov met its members shortly before he proclaimed the Irad Special Economic Zone.^[3]

References

1. ^ Central Asian Geopolitical Review (2011). 'The Territorial Lobby: American Business and the End of the Alimbekov-Baker Treaty.' Vol. 7, pp. 55–78.
2. ^ US House of Representatives (2006). The Future of the Territory of Irad: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Insular Affairs. Washington.
3. ^ Talas Herald (March 2008). 'Who Paid for Aulie-Ata?' Series in four parts. Talas.