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United Kingdom Mission
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U/C
Your reference
M A Searle Esq
Hong Kong and General Dept FCO
Our reference
Date
18 August 1981
HONG KONG REPRESENTATION AT THE ECE WORKING PARTY ON FACILITATION OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE PROCEDURES
1.
Thank you for your letter of 6 August to Colin Mayhew who is at present on leave.
2.
As far as the ECE is concerned, it would be sufficient for the Secretariat to be informed of the names of the representatives from the Hong Kong Trade Facilitation Council (HKTFC) together with the other members of the UK delegation in the usual way either in advance of the meeting or when they register on the first day. No other formal procedure is required. The Secretariat also suggest that the HKTFC representatives may wish to be identified as such in the list of delegations (only names are normally given) as this may facilitate their contacts with other delegations on problems specifically related to Hong Kong. I am therefore copying this letter and relevant past papers to Mr Stone as I note from our file that we received the UK delegation list for the last Working Party on Trade Facilitation held in March this year from him.
3.
With reference to the agreement between HMG and Hong Kong on prior consultations on GATT matters, I regret we have been unable to trace any papers here in Geneva. We have unearthed the enclosed GATT document L/3800 from 1972, which sets out Hong Kong's status in the GATT, and my DOT colleagues here suggest that any agreement on prior consultations may have been worked out at the same time. Our own papers only go back as far as 1979 when Hong Kong's status in the GATT again came under discussion (see copy of letter of 28 November 1979 from Miss Harding to Willis, also attached). ECD (E) were involved in those discussions and may be
able to assist in tracing the papers on the prior consultations agreement.
Cc:
R Hobbs Esq, CRE4, DOT
Miss C J Hart
R Kinchen Esq MVO, ECD(E), FCO R R Stone Esq, EDB, DOT