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something of the development of Hong Kong taking place outside the central district. The suggestions for the programme take account of these priorities.
B 5. Mr Gozney's minue of 24 June on the overall itinerary
for the Secretary of State's visit to Asia foresaw a departure from Hong Kong on the morning of Tuesday 28 July for South East Asia. ExCo meets for its weekly session on Tuesday mornings. Mr Patten sees strong advantage in the Secretary of State staying long enough in Hong Kong to
attend ExCo. We agree.
The alternative would be to meet
ExCo over dinner the previous evening. But that reduces the scope for the Secretary of State to meet other political
figures.
6.
The right timing for a press conference would be after the meeting with Exco and immediately before departure (which gives a reason to keep the press conference short). This would inevitably put back the departure time for Kuala Lumpur until, say, 11.30. Mr Hewitt covers the implications of this in a separate submission. But since the Secretary of State will, even on this later timing, have more than a full day in Kuala Lumpur, I hope that a later departure from Hong Kong can be agreed.
7. As regards accompanying officials, you are proposing to join the Secretary of State's party in Hong Kong. I would find it very helpful to be there as well, particularly for the reflective discussions with Mr Patten and his team, which will I expect form the basis for our policy work on Hong Kong in the coming months.
P F Ricketts
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