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COMMERCIAL AND ECONOMIC WORK (Conta)
15. Taiwan The Senior Trade Commissioner maintains discreet links with the resident representative of the Anglo-Taiwan Trade Committee (ATTC) in Taipei. Informal liaison is maintained with departments of the Hong Kong Government on visa applications and guidance is given on Department of Trade/Department of Industry procedures. Trade enquiries, either from the UK or from Taiwan, are redirected to the ATTC representative via CRE in London.
ASSESSMENT
16. We found the work generally to be excellently carried out under the enthusiastic leadership of Mr March. Despite the increase in project work we did not find him generally over- stretched though this may well be a tribute to his own effi- ciency rather than any reflection of the present volume of work. We also found Mr Morrison to be an excellent office manager who had done a great deal to improve the technical working of the commercial side of the Trade Commission as a whole. We would, nonetheless, like to see him less tied to his desk and in parti**** cular less preoccupied by trade missions. Our proposals on these aspects appear below. The DS 7E carries a heavy load which certainly could not be increased; but we think there may be scope for some diversification of his tasks. The LE Is, as already noted, generally work well and provide an admirable element of local continuity (our proposals on their salary scales appear in Section-15-(Local Staff)).
17.
Our only criticism of substance relates to the visiting statistics. Mr March himself set a shining example in 1977 when he paid 129 visits. In the same year, Mr Morrison paid 59 and Mr Orr (who was away for 4 months) 46. The 2 LE Is paid 100 and 90 respectively. We pointed out to the Post that these figures left considerable room for improvement. In particular, the 2 junior UK officers need to get out more.
18.
A second and related point is that, although the visiting programme of the 3 officers at DS 7 level is well monitored by the DS 6, it is not geared to any overall commercial aim or target. We believe that the work of the Trade Commission could be improved still further if it conformed to some broad-brush overall plan which would include the periodical selection of particular targets. We recommend the Post consider this.
STAFFING
19. Background to the Inspection Our Inspection was made against the background of a campaign by Mr H J C Browne, Chairman of the Hong Kong Trade Advisory Group, aimed at
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