VUINI ADANA ADU
- 5 -
asked the Fight Crime Committee to undertake a thorough study of the
statistics and causes of this increase.
CASTLE PEAK 'B' POWER STATION
13. On 30 March, during the Secretary of State's visit to Hong Kong,
it was announced that a United Kingdom group, led by GEC and Babcock
and coordinated by the Department of Industry, had won an order
for the construction of the Castle Peak 'B' Power Station from the
China Light and Power Company Limited and Esso Eastern. GEC and
Babcock are already building the smaller 'A' Station on the same site.
14. The order is worth an estimated £550 million to United Kingdom
industry and was won with some Government financial support. The
order will secure between 5,000 and 7,000 jobs over the next 7 years,
mainly in the assisted areas including Northern Ireland.
15. The order has been welcomed in the Territory as tangible
evidence of Her Majesty's Government's commitment to maintain
Hong Kong's prosperity. The prestige of the order will also create
a favourable climate for United Kingdom exports to Hong Kong and
neighbouring markets, especially China.
MULTI-FIBRE ARRANGEMENT
16. The Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA) which regulates international
trade in low-cost textiles and clothing, is due for renewal at the
end of 1981. It is complemented by a series of bilateral agreements
between importers and exporters. The European Community/Hong Kong
Bilateral Agreement expires in December 1982.
17. Hong Kong is the major source of MFA textile imports into the
United Kingdom. In 1978, the European Community cut back Hong Kong's
(and South Korea's) quotas to below the previous year's level.
There
is pressure within the European Community and in the United Kingdom
CONFIDENTIAL
/textiles