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HKK 414/1
British Trade Commission in Hong HD IN REGISTRY NO. 51
Tamman
Mail Address GPO Box No 528 Hong Kong
JA
CT MON
Telex HX 73031
Cable Address Uktrade Hong Kong Telephone 958K1FFICER 9th Floor Bank of America Tower 12 Harcourt Road Hong Kong-
INDEX
PA
REGISTRY Action Taken
No
LAE
Your referenda
यस फिचर
21
R D Clift Esq
Our reference ADM 414/1
Date
21 October 1981
See117
Hong Kong & General Department
FCO
tem
Teen Lick.
POST INSPECTION, FEBRUARY 1982
Tu folger
19. find out from the inspectorate who they expect to mbi the main brief. I 2.4
is
Aw Gelger. Sunits
then mot have hear sal fum. Pl.get
Lopen + the Speal
تقوی
(20
I have delayed a reply to your teleletter HKK 414/11 of 23 September until I was ready to send off our reply to TRED's letter of 11 September. We have already despatched a completed self inspection questionnaire in respect of both the Trade Commission proper and our China Trade Unit but unfortunately I did not keep a clean copy of the questionnaire and the draft is rather tatty.
willbe No doubt John Edmunds' people were able to let you have that particular document.
2.
I am most grateful for your offer to highlight one or two points in your departmental brief for the inspectors. May I suggest the following:-
2.
The Role of the Senior Trade Commissioner.
In the absence of any Chancery or super- intending Head of Mission, the STC unlike a commercial counsellor in a large embassy has
tha to be more usually aware of the political factors which impinge on his major task of promoting British exports to Hong Kong. include the China dimension and the constitutional relationship between Whitehall and the Hong Kong Government which is rarely understood in
These
departments other than the FCO. He has to be particularly careful to develop a working relationship with the Governor and his senior Hong Kong Government officials while retaining an acceptable degree of independence. As the FCO's trade representative he often has to undertake responsibility for visiting Ministers and MPs which would normally fall to a Head of Mission. It is not therefore as straightforward a commercial job as many in the Departments of Trade and Industry appear to believe and in my view should always be filled by a FCO counsellor with considerable commercial experience and preferably with a knowledge of China. The
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