3 April 1991
HKC385/1
Foreign & Commonwealth
Office
File.
19
B Ireland Esq
Constitutional Affairs Branch
Hong Kong Government
Dear Bart
London SW1A 2AH
Telephone: 071-
HONG KONG/GIBRALTAR MUTUAL ASSISTANCE IN RELATION TO DRUG
TRAFFICKING
1. I note from the attached papers that Hong Kong is seeking mutual designation arrangements in relation to drug trafficking with Gibraltar. This is, of course, something for Hong Kong to pursue and Hong Kong Department here would not envisage becoming involved.
2. I thought it worth flagging, however, that when the time comes for Hong Kong's bilateral drugs trafficking agreements to be subsumed into wider mutual legal assistance agreements, we shall need to consider separately the position of agreements with the UK and other dependent territories such as Gibraltar. This would form part of the reappraisal of the UK/Hong Kong legal relationship which will be necessary as we approach 1997. For this reason, it would be helpful if Hong Kong could keep us informed of any similar arrangements they enter into with third countries and other dependent territories.
your ever
Panda,
P A Major (Ms)
•
Hong Kong Department
cc: Ms Bourne, ERD
Miss Brooks, Legal Advisers
Miss Saunders, HKD
TOMBAX/CVL