272
CONFIDENTIAL
LUKGO
Enter PA
(288
8441519
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
HICK
026/5=1
14 September, 1982
Dear Juan,
Ormuda
Prime Minister's Visit to Hong Kong
seo (298)
The Governor of Hong Kong has now given further consideration to his recommendation that the Prime Minister should hold a meeting with a delegation from the Urban Council. In view of the need to rearrange the Prime Minister's programme to accommodate a meeting between her and a group of businessmen, and to allow the Prime Minister some free time during her visit to attend to other work, he now thinks that it will be difficult to fit in a formal meeting with the Urban Council as he had originally proposed. He has suggested, as an alternative, that the members of the Council should be invited to the reception at Government House on 27 September; they could then be introduced as a group to the Prime Minister, who can discuss a number of topics with them.
The Governor has made one other suggestion with regard to the farewell drinks with the press and others included in the programme at 19.00 on 28 September. He proposes that, in addition to the press party travelling with the Prime Minister, invitations should be issued to a selection of other journalists in Hong Kong at that time (both from Hong Kong and elsewhere) and also to about 15 of those connected with the programme whom the Prime Minister may wish to thank, such as helicopter pilots.
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The Governor has suggested some amendments to the list for the businessmen's meeting enclosed with my letter of 10 September. They are: Banking: Delete Q W Lee. British Companies: Add David Newbigging, Jardines. Textiles: Delete Christopher Cheng. Light Manufacturing: Delete George Bloch. Delete all from insurance, legal profession, accountancy, Indian business community, transport and general trading.
Finally, the Governor has noted that the Prime Minister's meeting with businessmen proposed in my letter of 10 September is scheduled to take place at the same time as Mr Thatcher's meeting with British businessmen at the British Trade Commission. In order to avoid this coincidence he has proposed that Mr Thatcher's programme for the afternoon of 27 September, about which I also wrote to you on 10 September, be adjusted so that the visit to the Hong Kong Buying Office of Canadian Tyre precede, rather than follow, the meeting at the British Trade Commission.
Perhaps you could let me know whether these proposals are acceptable, so that we can inform the Governor of the final approved
CONFIDENTIAL
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