والمخدر
CONFIDENTIAL
13. And now a word about trade. It was a great relief to
me that it was possible to achieve so quickly the realignment
of parities of the major international currencies.
With every
week that the confusion of exchange rates continued, the blight
of protectionism seemed to threaten more closely the continued
expansion of world trade. It has been on this expansion that
Hong Kong's success has been built, as well as on the skill
and enterprise of its people. But now the American surcharge
is removed and the future is brighter.
14.
Hong Kong, of course, still has to face a degree of
protectionism in its major markets for some of its products.
You are practical and realistic people and you know that this
is the price of your own phenomenal success, and that particularly
in the case of some textiles there must be a limit in some
markets of what is politically tolerable.
But even where
Hong Kong has to operate restraints in its trade with other
countries, a vast and profitable market still lies open to you.
And if the continued expansion of your exports requires a
conscious process of diversification, as I believe it does, I
am confident that Hong Kong will meet this challenge with the
enterprise, ingenuity and the success for which it is famed.
15.
Let me say again how glad my wife and I are to have had
this all too short opportunity of visiting you and of meeting
those responsible for the direction of your affairs.
Even in
this brief visit I am seeing for myself a little of the
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