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Foblem of lorry quotas remained. We hoped this could be resolved. Followin her conversation with M. Fabius in August, the Prime
Minister would probably wish to raise this question again at the
summit.
Anglo/Frenc: Summit
The
Mr Dain said that he had conveyed our initial thoughts on the
programme and participation to M. de Lacoste. These had not yet been approved by No 10 Downing Street.
4.
a
Queen had offered to receive President Mitterrand at 5 pm on 18
November. This might leave little time
Leave little time to spare in the afternoon. We were considering how this could be used and would welcome French
suggestions.
Vietnamese Refugees i Hong Kong
5.
PUS said he had sited Hong Kong some months previously and seen the refugee cam s. They were crowded though conditions were good. Refugees had to stay in the camps until they could be resettled outside Hong Kong. The Hong Kong government was making
major efforts to resolve this problem. UK would be taking an extra 500 refugees who would normally fall outside Home Office criteria
for acceptance. We were asking our friends to help.
6.
M. Ross said as an Asian specialist and someone who had lived in Hong Kong he appreciated the problem. The French would like to help but France had taken 110,000 SouthEast Asian refugees since 1975,
including 30,000 Vietnamese. The Vietnamese in Hong Kong were not generally Francophone and had no family ties in France.
They would
thus find it difficult to integrate into the French community. with
French connections. Mr Dain understood that an estimated 130-140 of
the refugees in Hong Kong had French connections. M. Ross said that if there were refugees who were Francophone and had family connections in France then it was possible that their cases could be followed up favourably. The PUS undertook to provide details.
No-Passport Excursions
PUS asked what impressions the French had of the effects of the
new arrangements. He noted there was to be a review later in 1985. Mr Eggar was taking a close interest. He hoped ways could be found
1.
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