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DRAFT MESSAGE TO THE COVERNOR, HONG KONG, FROM HO SECRETARY OF STATE FOR TRADE AND INDUSTRY
As you know, an Anglo-Italian Group has been formed vo
compete for the contract to build a mass transit system
in Hong Kong, and that the Group have put forward in
a letter to the Hong Kong Steering Group for the Mass
Transit Scheme a proposal which, when developed, could
they believe match and beat that from the Japanese.
I have also heard that your initial reaction is that the
Group must do more if they are to stay in the race.
I hope you will pause a moment before carrying this to
a point at which all competition to the Japanese bid is
eliminated. In this context it may help you to know
that this new group have the same firm support from the
UK Government that was enjoyed by the wholly UK group
which preceded it. Aston has instructions to make this
clear at his level and to put forward certain points
not covered in any detail in this message which, on
straight trade promotion grounds, could argue for keeping
the Anglo-Italian consortium in the race. Briefly, the
UK Government believe that the Anglo-Italian Group will
be strong technically, that they will be able toput in a
highly competitive price and that the flexibility over
the Steering Group's "requirements" shown towards the
Japanese pre-emptive bid, eg on the matter of a guarantee,
should be matched by a similar flexibility towards the
Anglo-Italian consortium.
Could I ask you also to take certain other points into
consideration. First, I do not doubt that you will be
asking yourselves whether the bid from the Japanese
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