SECRET
HONG KONG FUTURE CONSULATE GENERAL: TRANSITION FROM THE
BRITISH TRADE COMMISSION
1.
With the transfer of sovereignty to China on 1 July 1997, Britain's interests in Hong Kong will need to be represented by a British Consulate General (BCG).
2.
The design and construction programme for the building is already under way. The Schedule of Requirements (SOR) has
also defined the staffing requirement some 60 UK based and 200 locally engaged staff. But the new post cannot emerge fully-formed in July 1997. The present British Trade Commission (BTC) will need to be built up over the next five years to take on the full range of extra responsibilities by 1997. The senior British Trade Commissioner has proposed that MRS be asked to conduct a review in early 1993 of the staffing of the new Consulate General and the transition process. This paper, together with the revised SOR can form the starting
point for that review.
The Building
3.
One constraint on increasing the size of the present BTC will be availability of office space. At present, they occupy some 9,500 square feet in an office block, and have just taken on another 3,400 square feet.
4.
The new building should be ready by late 1995 or early 1996, and will provide some 127,000 square feet of space, as well as accommodation for the British Council. The major increases in staffing, in preparation for 1997, cannot therefore take place until the new building is ready. But the availability of the new building need not entirely dictate our
brief.consgen.BTC
JEB
SECRET