DSR 11 (Revised)
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SUBJECT:
HEADS OF MISSION CONFERENCE, BANGKOK, 13-14 NOVEMBER
DRAFT OPENING ADDRESS BY LORD BELSTEAD
1.
I should like to begin by saying how glad I myself
am, and I'm sure we, the visitors, all are, to be in
Bangkok. It is all too seldom that we can find the time
to get together to discuss the things that are on our
minds as we set about our collective task of promoting
British interests in this region. I look forward to our
meeting with all the more anticipation because this is my
first visit to Bangkok, indeed to South East Asia.
Let me
say at this point that I do hope to be able to visit at
least the other four ASEAN countries in the course of next
year; and Burma as soon as I can.
It is very nearly three years since our predecessors
gathered in this very room under the chairmanship of
Peter Blaker (I say predecessors but I know that there are
in fact several veterans of the January 1980 campaign
in the room [Messrs. Cradock, Bentley, Watson, D and K
Burns]). It is a tribute both to the forebearance and to
the efficiency of successive Ambassadors and their staffs
here in Bangkok that we have been welcomed back and that
we have been delighted to come. I must express our