CONFIDENTIAL
Item 5 Environment
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17. Mr Dalton reported on the plans to establish cooperation agreements for environmental protection between the US authorities and certain Caribbean DTs. MAED and Legal Advisers had drafted a standard agreement and were now awaiting comments from DTp and from the IMO representative in San Juan. Mr Dalton was unable to commit himself on the question of whether the US authorities would be prepared to sign such an agreement with every one of the Caribbean DTS. Much would depend here on the distances which the US emergency services were prepared to cover. They might well be less willing to sign an agreement with Montserrat, for instance, than with BVI. for the scope of cooperation, Mr Herdman was pressing for as comprehensive an agreement as possible, but all, would depend on the types of assistance the US authorities declared themselves ready to provide. The first aim of the proposed agreements was to provide assistance for the DTS in the event of oil spillages, whether maritime or terrestrial. The agreements could probably be extended to cover other maritime spillages (eg chemicals).
As
Item 6 Hong Kong BDTCs
18. Mr Wood reported that there was a long-standing resentment in Hong Kong that the Territory's BDTCs had no right of abode in UK. The resentment had recently been exacerbated by the news that 100,000 Portuguese nationals in Macao would be issued with common format EC passports, and hence would enjoy access to the UK. The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee enquiry into Hong Kong
had provided a further focus for Hong Kong concerns about the question of nationality. Recent events in China had made this issue
even more pressing.
19. In early May, an FCO/Home Office seminar had been held at Chevening to discuss the whole spectrum of immigration policy.
Consideration had been given as to whether anything could be done to meet the Hong Kong concerns. The briefing for the seminar had drawn
attention to the implications for other DTS of any concession made
to Hong Kong in this field. But the view had been taken at
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CONFIDENTIAL