egy:
Foreign and Commonwealth Office London SW1
European Integration Department (E)
N Statham Esq CMG CVO
BONN
Dear Norman,
LA81
PC.
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REF
(23
Your reference
Our reference
Date
14 February 1974
HONG KONG'S INTERESTS IN EEC CAPITALS
1. The Hong Kong Government have for some time been concerned about the dependency's image in Europe. Much of the knowledge about Hong Kong is outdated in many countries and there seems to be a general lack of understanding about Hong Kong's aims and ambitions. This has led to misconceptions which in some cases have had adverse effects on Hong Kong's commercial interests.
2. Hitherto Hong Kong's relations with the Community and its Member States have been conducted almost exclusively through Brussels, where they have a fulltime Counsellor attached to the Embassy, and through London. They do not of course have any mission: of their own. Before he left the Office Mr Royle discussed the implications of this with the Hong Kong Director of Commerce and Industry, David Jordan. They agreed that there would be advantage in Hong Kong estblishing a rather more direct, though informal, relationship with the other EEC countries. This might help promote Hong Kong's interests and at the same time take some of the weight off the UK as the sole defender of those interests within the Communit
3.
One way of achieving this would be for the Hong Kong Government themselves to do more by personal contacts between their touring officers and the Government concerned. But where they have no resident representative of their own, the logistics and other arrangements for such contacts are not always so easy to make. Hong Kong are entitled to look to us and to our missions for help and advice in such situations. A possibility suggested by Mr Royle at his meeting with Mr. Jordan was that we might ask you to consider nominating one of your officers as a linking point for Hong Kong in the country concerned on the understanding that this would not involve any significant increase in the workload of your mission.
4. Before setting up any arrangements on the ground, we would want to have a rather clearer idea of the sort of help that Hong Kong would actually want. It is thus timely that (as you will have seen from Hong Kong telegram No 154) the Hong Kong Government are sending
/Nigel Watt
CONFIDENTIAL