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election pressures in Sweden at the time and their impact on Sweden's traditional non-protectionist
policies. It so happened that the Embassy in Stockholm did telegraph some late advice on this point which was elaborated to the Hong Kong delegation
when it arrived in Stockholm for the first round of
negotiations.
4. I have set out in paragraph 2 of my minute to Mr. Britten the basis on which Hong Kong's
commercial relations are conducted. There is an
additional point I should have made. The process of Hong Kong formulating and ourselves guiding and approving the Colony's commercial policy involves a constant dialogue between Hong Kong and this office on a wide variety of issues. Lack of full background
information in Hong Kong on these issues can lead to
difficulties and misunderstandings in our exchanges
and has on occasions delayed agreement where speedy
decisions were desirable. It is far from easy to
get the right outcome when one party lacks knowledge and "feel" of the problem which has to be resolved.
There are very few matters indeed on which we would
not regard it as right and necessary to take the Governor and senior Hong Kong officials fully into our confidence when coming to an agreement with them on
major issues.
5. I should be grateful for the views of other
interested departments
www
in particular on the following
points which I suggest require special consideration:-
(a) The kind of information Hong Kong requires
is that normally circula ted in Print
distribution. But Hong Kong receives (or is about to receive) only the Asia and
Pacific Regional distribution of Prints, and
if it has to rely on Prints the delay in
circulation may in many cases reduce the
value of the information by the time it
reaches the Colony. To obviate delay and to avoid devising a special Print distribu-
tion, would it not be possible for copies of
the despatches to be sent direct to Hong Kong when they are sent to the FCO? There is additionally the point on Prints mentioned
by Miss England in her minute of 19 June
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