Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
Ms Margaret Drage
Chiltern Fold South End Common Henley-on-Thames ΟΧΟΝ RG9 6JP
Telephone 01-
Your reference
Our reference
Date
270 2653
PJMAQD
4 July 1989
163
HKEISI
Dear Ms. Drage A
I have been asked to reply to your letter of 9 June to the Prime Minister about the African Elephant and the Pvory Trade in Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong Government are aware of the international concern for the survival of the African Elephant. They conform to the controls laid down in the Covention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES) and will be represented at the meeting of CITES members in October this year to consider further measures to protect the species. But pending any conclusions that the Convention might reach at the meeting the Hong Kong Government have in common with the UK, other EC countries, the USA and others, already suspended (in fact on the day you wrote) the issue of licences for imports of raw ivory from all sources. They have also enhanced controls for registration and marking existing stocks and at the beginning of June they established a special Customs Task Force to investigate and supress illegal trading through Hong Kong. They are also substantially increasingthe penalties for violating legislation on endangered species.
I hope this illustrates that Hong Kong is taking the problem seriously and is acting responsibly to combat illegal trading. But this and the nationality questions are separate issues.
The British Government of course welcome the measures the Hong Kong Government have taken to help preserve the African elephant but I think it unlikely that Parliament will think they have an any bearing on the formulation of British immigration policy.
You
us sincerely, Arand Ulveyd илув
FB Holroyd
Hong Kong Department