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Visas for Visitors from Eastern Europe
1
Sir,,
l.c.
9
My hon. Friends Mrs. CHOW and Mr. Sohmen have commented
on the Government's restrictive policy on granting visas for
Eastern bloc visitors and have called for a review. In fact
we keep the policy under regular review and it is now far less
rigid than is often supposed. Each application for a visa is
considered on its merits with the object of balancing Hong
Kong's varying interests in this context. We accept that too
restrictive a policy could be an impediment to Hong Kong's
development as an international conference centre. In order
to meet this point, as a result of the last review we have
introduced a new procedure which takes account of the long
lead times necessary for planning conferences and which should
enable Hong Kong to bid for a greater proportion of conference
events. We have also agreed further to relax our policy on
the granting of visas so that we will be able to agree to the
issue of more visas than we have hitherto. We have informed
the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and the Hong Kong
Tourist Association. And the management of the Hong Kong
Convention and Exhibition Centre is also aware of what we have
done.
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