CONFIDENTIAL
129
PS/Lord Caithness
Sir J Coles (with
Ihr Heme
From:
R A Burns
Date:
6 June 1991
Cc:
MrMorris
√%
LORD CAITHNESS' VISIT TO HONG KONG :
copy of paper under reference) Mr Paul, HKD
HKD 026/1
RECEIVE
22-26 JULY
14 JUN 1991
ist FICER
PA
1.
What the Governor and Mr Paul propose makes on the whole, good sense, but we need to marry the programme little more closely than has been done so far with the Heads of Mission Conference.
2. At present, the plan seems to be that Lord Caithness would attend all the Conference except for the second day, Tuesday, 23 July. This means that the Minister would be present for all the political and management discussions but not for any of the discussion on commercial/economic work. This is the area to which almost all the Heads of Mission attach particular importance and on which the Secretary of State has asked us to focus. I think it would be a pity if Lord Caithness were not present for any presentation by participating businessmen or for discussion of ATP, investment and invisibles. On the other hand, we are still trying to sort out the agenda with the DTI, and I am not quite ready yet to give firm advice on which would be the most important moments in the second day's discussions. any case, it may be possible to make some use of the morning of 25 July.
3.
In
But the first question is whether the Minister can now advance his arrival to 21 July, so tnat we can make use of the morning of Monday, 22 July, for the bilateral visit to Hong Kong. If this is possible, then I will arrange to submit some revised advice which takes account of the Conference planning.
4. Although I would be happy to attend some of the Minister's bilateral engagements in Hong Kong, I shall need to give priority attendance to the Heads of Mission Conference. So I hope it has been agreed that Mr Paul should come out to Hong Kong with us. This assumes, of course, that Sir J Coles is not planning to attend; if he were, then I can take on more of the bilateral side of the programme myself.
Adund
R A Burns
A25AAN
CONFIDENTIAL