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DATE :
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:
Hong Kong Department 14 February 1991
199 Mr McLaren,
19/2
BRITISH TRADE COMMISSION/PADS : PROPOSED APPOINTMENT OF A DTI CONSULTANT
1.
Please refer to my minute of 30 January. Both you and Mr McLaren have expressed some reservations about this proposal, which to some extent I share.
2.
I have subsequently spoken to Mr Heap and to various people in the DTI, including Mr Christian Adams,
Mr Richard Rogers and Mr Jim Broad (who is the official responsible for helping to secure contracts for British companies from the Channel Tunnel project).
3.
The DTI are very keen to proceed with this idea, and are on the point of signing an initial contract with the individual concerned (who is the same consultant who advised them over the Channel Tunnel project, with spectacularly successful results). The contract will be let in a phased way, with an initial payment of £5,000 or so to cover a preliminary visit to Hong Kong.
4.
Mr Heap's position is that he does have some reservations about the proposal and would prefer the involvement of a DTI official to a private consultancy. However, he considers that our prospects for winning substantial business from any part of the airport project seem to be slipping backwards all the time. His bottom line is therefore that he is willing to go along with any proposal that might devote more resources to improving British prospects.
5. In response to the reservations which I have expressed to them about the idea, the DTI have offered the following
assurances:
(a) the individual is a tried and tested operator, who can be relied upon to be discreet and alive to the sensitivities;
(b) his role (primarily to act as a link with British companies and sub-contractors in this country) will be complimentary to the role of the BTC and not in competition with it;
IMPADV CC
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