Repatriation Programme.
have
And we here also worked hard on
UNHCR and the UK Commission. Part of the problem is the
cost of absorbing the migrants back into Vietnam, and the
UK
has pledged £3 million towards an important international programme to reintegrate into the local communities in
Vietnam those who volunteered to return. This is over and above
our share of the European Community's contribution. The unlying objective remains to empty the Hong Kong camps in three year.
I cannot offer guarantees, but I am
hopeful.
LegCo
Since
I should just say a few words about the new Legco.
the elections last September, a majority of the Council,
nearly two-thirds, is now elected. We welcome the fact that
political debate has become more lively! It is right that
legislation should be scrutinised, policies probéd. Douglas Hurd and I have seen a number of Legço
representatives in London, and I look forward to meeting all the group individually while I am here. Inevitably, there are differences. As with every new and exciting development, it will take some time to settle down.
But I
am struck not so much by the disagreements, but by the large
degree of consensus on
st of the central economic
questions. I am sure everyone will want to see a
constructive partnership between the Hong Kong Government
and LegCo. At present they are still evolving new ways of working together. But, as Sir David Ford has rightly
pointed out, the actual business of the Hong Kong Government
has not suffered under the new LegCo. The Hong Kong Government is getting on with government business in the way that it always does, and that provides the right
backdrop for Hong Kong itself to get on with the business of Hong Kong and that is business!
Conclusior
So, as I hope you will have gathered by now, I remain very
bullish about Hong Kong and about prospects for British
JM1ABU/7