SPEAKING NOTE FOR MR KAUFMAN'S MEETING WITH THE HONG KONG SHIFONERS' MISSION - 9 MAY 1977
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After welcoming the visitors, the Minister might say that he hopes the visit will lay the basis for the development of closer ties between the Hong Kong owners and UK shipbuilders.
The UK Shipbuilding Industry
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The Minister might go on to say that he and his colleagues are taking the shipbuilding industry into public ownership in order to establish it on an efficient and competitive basis. The yards will be vested in British Shipbuilders, the Corporation which is to run the industry, on 1 July, and British Shipbuilders will then have the responsibility on the building side for negotiat- ing the commercial details of the type of arrangement which the Hong Kong owners have in mind.
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Shipbuilding, as he hardly need remind the Hong Kong owners, is going through a serious crisis and all indications are that this situation will continue for the
next few years. We would therefore welcome any ideas which the owners may have for placing orders in our yards.
4. The Government is determined to preserve a ship- building industry which can offer long term and secure employment to its workers, and in conformity with this aim it recently announced the establishment of a 365 m
intervention fund to enable the industry to secure
additional orders. The fund however will have to be
used so as to receive value for money as there will be
more claims on it than can be accommodated. It will also
have to be used in conformity with our internetional
obligations.
Each proposal for the use of the fund will