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From P. W. Heap CMG British Senior Trade Commissioner
CE A Ripley Esq
Invest in Britain Bureau
DTI
Fax No: 071-215 8451
BRITISH TRADE COMMISSION
WHILE 121/2
HONG KONG.
12 August 1991
Mer Funess Sorry, buried.
2.
дее Deer Eddie
IBB PROMOTIONAL WORK IN HONG KONG/
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1. Thank you for your letter of 5 June to James Smith-Laittan about the possibility of increasing our efforts to attract inward investment from Hong Kong. We have been giving this very careful thought.
2. For the reasons given in our telno 236 to the FCO, which I have copied to you, I think a seminar such as you propose, would be a good idea. I do not agree that you could not hold it in a decent hotel. We do not have to be that secretive about it. But probably we would not wish to advertise it widely. I envisage more carefully targeted invitations, by mail, by phone calls and by personal visits.
I have very little doubt that this would produce at least the 30 firms you mention (although not necessarily all in manufacturing), and it could produce more. Any firm already seriously thinking of investing overseas might send several people, so the total number of participants could be more than the number of firms represented.
3. Late October-early November could be a little early but if pushed as far back in that period as possible we could perhaps manage.
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The reservations I mention in my telegram about the strain on our resources are however to be taken seriously. I would not want such a seminar to go off at half cock because of poor preparation. I believe you should attach someone to this office for a month or two before the seminar who would work full time on it. Equally to have someone who could follow up any leads for a couple of weeks afterwards would be valuable. We could not provide anyone to play such a role, though of course we could help with suggestions for participants, venues etc. You could send someone from London, or you could recruit locally, or best of all, both. The former head of the Industrial Development Board for Northern Ireland, Hoon Wi Lian, is still here, after that office moved to Korea, and is job hunting. She is excellent, and of course knows the field very well. Perhaps she could be persuaded to do it, although no doubt at an executive, not a secretarial salary.
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