30 October 1991
Sir David Wilson GCMG
HONG KONG
Dear Javid,
CONFIDENTIAL
HKD $26/18
1 NOV 199
من
Foreign & Commonwealth
Office
London SW1A 2AX
Ma Cxx
(tya) Angert
ли
44
Hape this with will with baday. durma
та
28
VISIT BY MR GUMMER : UK BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
Thank you for your letter of 7 October about Mr Gummer's visit and its useful attachment. It reached me only after your own visit here.
1.
2.
We do not know where Mr Gummer picked up the idea that there might be a problem of bias in the award of airport consultancies or other contracts - though I should mislead you if I did not add that we have had to deal with other expressions of concern about possible bias as well.
The final sentence in paragraph 2 of your letter accurately describes a view strongly held by Ministers.
3.
We gave Mr Gummer a pretty comprehensive brief on the airport. This noted that many consultancy contracts had already been awarded to British companies. It also made clear that the Hong Kong Government has a fair and open tender system and that you are committed to a level playing field. It did say that, if all other matters were equal, it should be possible for the Hong Kong Government to "think British" and pointed out that business and Parliament here would be disappointed if UK companies did not do well. It also mentioned a case where a failed British bid had been extremely uncompetitive.
4. Our contacts in the DTI tell us that the major British players fully understand the position in Hong Kong: that the British Government is not in the business of trying to twist the Hong Kong Government's arm but that we shall lobby vigorously on behalf of British firms, as we would do anywhere else in the world. As you say, such lobbying is understandable and a fact of life. When Ministers here see Giscard and Shultz lining up for competitors, they feel that
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ALBAAW/1
CONFIDENTIAL