18-OCT-1993
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FROM: A Newton DATE: 18 October 1993
1500. 1993
cc: Mr Craddock Mr Fletcher Mr Ruff - ERD, FCO)
(w/out flags)
ERD, DICO by Ry
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OECD/HONG KONG: YOUR LUNCH WITH AMBASSADOR JOSEPH WONG 20 OCTOBER
1. Ambassador Wong has invited you to bilateral lunch on Wednesday 20 October at 1pm at the Port Alma Restaurant, 10 ave New York. He will be accompanied by his deputy, Andrew Wong. I am also invited.
2. Ambassador Wong will want to update you on lobbying since your last meeting on 16 June, prior to the Hong Kong Government formally applying for observer status on the Trade Committee. Since then he has spoken to a number of key Heads of Delegation here including the Commission, Japan, France, Australia, Norway, Sweden and Canada. On the morning of the 20th he will be calling on the German, Finnish and New Zealand Ambassadors, followed by the Swiss Ambassador in the afternoon. US support is already assured. You yourself have raised the question at an EC Heads of Delegation luncheon (on 24 June)
(Flag A), as well as speaking to Trade Director Abel on 1 July (Flag B).
I hosted a small lunch for Andrew Wong on 13 July (Flag C).
3.
So far the exercise appears to have gone well although a number of delegations have not been in a position to say one way or the other. Nevertheless, some firm commitments of support have been forthcoming as was underlined at a small luncheon I attended last week in Hong Kong hosted by Mrs Regina Ip, Deputy Secretary for Trade and Industry. Present were representatives of Austria (Waas), France (Boittin), Germany (von Dewitz), the Netherlands (Wellenstein), Norway (Naess) and Sweden (Ambassador Sohlman), plus Andrew Wong. The general view was that, if anything, Hong Kong should be more ambitious in its aspirations. This was linked to the thought that observership of committees was generally perceived as a stepping stone to full membership. That said, it was acknowledged that, in the peculiar circumstances of Hong Kong, the approach which they were adopting might be better.
4. You may wish to make the following points:
(a) with the November meeting of the Trade Committee now cancelled Hong Kong will presumably be working towards the February meeting;
(b)
as regards broadening the scope of their application, it would be as well to seek a firm idea from the OECD Legal Advisers as to whether, constitutionally, they need to have observer status on the EPOC in order to participate in the work of the Joint Expert Group on Trade/Environment. If so, it might be /advisable