Mr Fretwell
PS/PUS
را
HKK 121 6016 !
KL.LIVED IN REGISSY
14 SEP 1988
DISK OFFICER
INDEX
PA
cc Mr Cortazzi
Mr Butler
Mr Murray
Mr Milton HKGD Mr O'Neill LART
R
(156)
(159
56
HONG KONG AND THE MULTI-FIBRE ARRANGEMENT
1.
Re
I see some difficulty in taking action on the three fronts
suggested by the PUS as reported in your minute of 6 September.
Repetition of UKREP tel no 5121 to Hong Kong
2.
The crucial details of the Community's negotiating mandate
for the bilateral negotiations with Hong Kong have not yet been given
to us by the Commission. Until we know the quota figures which the
Commission is proposing the Community should apply to Hong Kong,
Sir M MacLehose will have no way of deciding whether the Community's
negotiating mandate in fact squares with what he was told by Mr Tran
in Hong Kong. The telegram sets out a methodology which might or might
not be consistent with the figures floated at him. Our latest
information is that the figures, together with those for all the other
bilateral textile agreements which the Community is preparing to
negotiate, are being put through a computer at this moment.
not have them until sometime next week.
3.
We may
More important, I see great difficulty in revealing any of the
Community's negotiating mandate to Sir M MacLehose in advance of the
negotiations between the Community and Hong Kong. We have previous
experience of Sir M MacLeho se passing personal and confidential*
communications from the FCO on the MFA to members of the Hong Kong
Government and in particular to Mr David Jordan, the Hong Kong
Director of Commerce and Industry. If we passed details to
Sir M MacLehose we would run a risk of the Hong Kong negotiators
being warned of the Community's position before they came to the
CONFIDENTIAL
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