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Sir A. Galsworthy
Mr. Godden
CONFIDENTIAL
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MR. Goddey
After discussion with MR. Carter I have revised these two drafts,
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The reused versions.
an
HONG KONG TUNNEL
an which we are agreed.
ANS. -257/2
At our meeting with Lord Shepherd on Friday, 21 February, it was agreed to consider whether there was any further action we might usefully take to promote the success of the Board of Trade's
efforts.
2.
27/2
We discussed this at some length this morning and decided that it would be premature to press for further relaxation of ECGD's terms at this stage when our competitors are still deliberately imprecise about theirs and the attitude of the Tunnel shareholders (in particular the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank) to our present proposals is unknown and possibly undetermined.
3. As you are aware, ECGD are making enquiries through the Trade Commission as to the willingness of the Bank to give their several
guarantees. This is the best channel that the Board of Trade can follow. We, on the other hand, may be able to do better. We thought the best contribution we might make at this stage is to supplement their sources of information by a personal telegram from
the Minister to the Governor. It would be advisable to clear this
initiative with the Board of Trade.
4. I attach a draft letter to Lord Brown, together with a draft
telegram to Sir David Trench.
24 February, 1969
Lus. Carter
(W. S. Carter)
Hong Kong Department
CONFIDENTIAL