4000035
P.R. 33
**
31
3 JANIS
HONG KONG GOVERNMENT
INFORMATION SERVICES
DAILY INFORMATION BULLETIN
SUPPLEMENT
Friday, December 19, 1975
DEFENCE COSTS AGREEMENT
JOINT STATEMENT
United Kingdom Government and the Hong Kong Government have
agreed on the size and the division of the cost of the British garrison in Hong Kong. This agreement will succeed the present 5-year agreement which expires on 31st March, 1976.
The new agreement reaffirms Her Majesty's Government's commitment to the security and integrity of Hong Kong and stipulates the size of the agreed garrison, which will be smaller than in the past,
but which will be reinforced should circumstances so require. The garrison will in future include 4 Infantry Battalions (3 of them Gurkha), a Gurkha Engineering Squadron, 5 Naval patrol craft and an RAF helicopter squadron. At current prices the cost will be £42m. a year which is some £20m. less than the present garrison. The Hong Kong Government will meet 50% of the cost of the garrison in the first year of the new agreement (1976/77), 62% in the second year and 75% in the 3rd and succeeding years, compared with a contribution in this financial year of about £11m. under the present agreement. The new agreement will run for 7 years initially and will be renewed for further period of 5 years on the same terms unless either Government wishes to vary them.
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