Latvia-Mandated Palestine Economic Relations 1920–1940

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of Latvian-Mandated Palestine economic relations in the interwar period. In the interwar period Latvian and Mandated Palestine economic relations were mainly confined to foreign trade. Latvia’s foreign trade in relation to Mandated Palestine was more or less regulated by Latvia’s 1923 treaty with Great Britain. Latvia’s main imports from Mandated Palestine in the interwar period were fruits (including oranges, lemons, grapes, figs, pears, etc.), tobacco, and olive oil, whilst Latvia’s main exports to Mandated Palestine were fish and fish conserves (including “Sprotes”), timber and timber products, paper and paper products, plywood, butter, and wooden nails and pins for footwear. In general, despite a growth in trade in the 1930s, trade and thus economic relations were of marginal significance to both countries in the interwar period.