needs to maximise its commercial potential into the 21st
century. In the short term it also means the largest construction project anywhere in the world, which in itself has considerable growth potential for Hong Kong's economy. I am encouraged to see the way the Hong Kong Government are pushing ahead to complete projects as far as posssible
and that
by mid-1997. The Provisional Airport Authority is expanding rapidly to meet all its tasks, and the Airport Committee
under the JLG as well as the Airport Consultative Committee are functioning well. The Chinese are giving the
co-operation they promised.
I am happy to say that UK companies have already secured
many consultancies for these projects. Now the big works contracts will soon be awarded. British companies, with excellent reputations in the fields involved, are centrally
involved, with the British Government's active support, in an effort so ably led by Peter Heap. We are taking the closest interest in how things are going. Of course we realise the importance of making adequate credit cover
available. The opportunities for British business are
massive.
Vietnamese Migrants
With that same eye on stability and prosperity, we have been
working very hard to try to resolve the Vietnamese Migrant
problem, and with some considerable success. I was
5 of course, shocked and saddened by the outbreak of violence in Shek Kong. It was a grim reminder of what the tensions and
unhappinesses of life in these camps can lead to, and a reminder of the importance of solving this problem as soon
as we can.
Very encouraging that arrivals are dramatically down, and that return are therefore chipping away at camp populations.
I went to Hanoi last month to try to speed up
the discussion over implementation of the Orderly
JM1ABU/6
SLM