potential economic migrants contemplating departure by boat
from Vietnam for Hong Kong. We hope that it will bring home
to boat people already in Hong Kong that there is not much
point in staying there and that their best course of action is
to return.
As soon as our bilateral agreement and the UNHCR Memorandum of
Understanding have been signed we hope that the Vietnamese
Government will be able to give us the first list of
volunteers who can return before the end of the year.
Mr Chairman,
I mention these matters largely to highlight the importance of
the ODP. It is important that impediments are not put in the
way of a successful ODP programme and that both sides work
together to ensure that orderly arrangements are made for
departure and that these ODP arrangements are such that both
the country of origin and the receiving country are in a
position to process the cases adequately.
They are an
essential element in the efforts by SRV and others to reduce
the flow of clandestine departures.
Page 15Page 16