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Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
Hrs 340/1 Ephem
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6 April 1990
Vd
24
fat support
RECE
HE Mr A J Scott CVO GRAND CAYMAN
SOLIDW
2 1941990
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Dear Alan,
PROPOSAL FOR A CAYMAN ISLANDS GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE IN HONG KONG
1. Thank you for your letter of 19 February about a proposal to set up a "Trade and Business Information Centre" in Hong Kong.
2. We have now seen a copy of Sir D Wilson's letter to you of 26 March and share his views on this proposal. It is, as you say, unlikely that anything would come of the proposed tourist or trade promotion activities, and we should be extremely wary of encouraging CIG in any way to "poach" offshore finance sector business or businessmen from Hong Kong at the present time. Furthermore it would be wrong for CIG to lend its good name to a private group over which it had no control to solicit offshore business away from Hong Kong to the Caymans with no doubt the added enticement of some form of BDT citizenship.
3. This is not the first group to approach the Caribbean Dependent Territories on the question of "selling" Hong Kong citizens alternative passports/permanent residence certificates. The idea of taking fifty families apiece is part of the gossip among the DT Ministers attending the Drugs Conference here this week. We have taken the line in the smaller, less developed DTS that a very small inflow (20-30 per year) of wealthy Hong Kong belongers might help to spark the local economy, but that the territories could not cope with greater numbers and retain their identity or avoid social disruption. doubt that CIG either want or need immigrants of this kind.
Yours ever,
Rohi
R S GORHAM
DTLAPY
CC:
Governor, Hong Kong Mr Hague, HKD
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