HKD
p.a:
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Lord Sharp of Grimsdyke CBE Chairman and Chief Executive Cable and Wireless
New Mercury House
PLC
London SW1A 2AH
7 June 1990
10 KC040/41 MsMajor
аксон
(54)
виль
26 Red Lion Square London
WC1R 4UQ
11 JUN 1990
W%
Dear Enc,
Thank you for your letter of 31 May enclosing a letter and memorandum by Stanley Ho about a UN presence in Hong Kong.
We have indeed given some thought to this idea. Hong Kong is, of course, already an important international centre of finance and business. But there would clearly be advantage, in terms of local and international confidence, in further enhancing Hong Kong's status by promoting it as a host to international organisations.
The difficulty is that all the existing UN bodies, regional or otherwise, already have headquarters and there are no new ones in the offing. It would be very difficult, and probably impossible to persuade any country to give up its host nation status in favour of Hong Kong. Nor do we see any scope for the establishment of a regional outstation of one of the UN bodies: there would be objections from the UN organisation to such a step on budgetary grounds, unless Hong Kong were to meet the bill, which is frankly not on.
In the short term at least, therefore, I am not hopeful that anything can be done. But we are keeping the idea under careful review and would take up with alactrity any real opportunity which presented itself.
Your ever, Rozmi
N
RJT McLaren