20 June 1991
Tel:
071-270-2671
RECL
20
1991
**
Foreign & Commonwealth
Office
13
London SW1 2AH
Fax: 071-270-3443
GA Duggan Esq SINGAPORE
Jew furlon
I
8TH PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION CONFERENCE (PECC): SINGAPORE, 20-22 MAY
1.
Many thanks for your teleletter of 24 May. I have since seen Giles Paxman's letter of 31 May, enclosing the set of conference documents. We are grateful to you for attending the conference and for the account of how it went.
2.
Goh's keynote address seemed to us thoughtful and
stimulating. He may have asked more questions than he answered but he was certainly right to point up the importance of developments in US-Japan relationship and the need for the countries in the region to come to terms with a resurgent Japan.
3. There is obviously still a bit of uncertainty about PECC's future role. I agree with Giles that it looks as if its most useful function will be to provide some back-up for the other regional groupings such as ASEAN and APEC. We shall see. But I certainly agree with you that we should not underestimate the value or importance of gatherings of this kind.
4. We were glad, incidentally, to note that Hong Kong was there as a full participant.
5. I note what you say about representation at future gatherings. We will do what we can.
R B Bone
Economic Relations Dept
CC:
Chanceries:
35dthjk
Canberra
Ottawa
Mr Cox
пи
Washington Wellington
Hong Kong Mexico City Lima
Santiago Peking
Ms
Major fr 24/6. Mr Fushels) 244/6
Tokyo
Jakarta