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5. On timing Wong thought that the letter might issue in the autumn. On past form the Secretary-General will submit this fairly quickly to the OECD Council which will then pass it to the relevant committee (in this case the Trade Committee) for an opinion. This would probably mean that the Trade Committee would be asked to consider the merits of the application at its first meeting of the new year. Assuming that the Committee was in favour with the technical case Council would then have to look at the political case. The earliest we could expect to see Hong Kong at the Trade Committee would therefore be April 1994.
6. We discussed the two main problems I foresaw with existing member states
concern that there were too many observers or potential observers for the Trade Committee (and other committees) to conduct sensible business and doubts about what would happen after 1997. On the first I suggested emphasis on Hong Kong's special position as the world's ninth largest trader and its good record in GATT on free trade. On the second I suggested Wong should carry a defensive brief quoting from the 1984 Joint Declaration on Hong Kong's future autonomy, separateness from China etc. We also agreed that the UK's role should be one of door-opening and discreet support only and that Mr Wong and his colleagues should be the ones informing the Secretariat and Delegation of their intentions.
Comment
7.
He seems His next
Sensibly, Wong is content
content to take his time and prepare the ground properly before launching into the formal process. to be well on the way already to finalising a good case. stage talking to delegations here should give a clearer indication as to the prospects of success. But as things stand I would assess these as reasonably good.
You
ever
Keith Naclones.
KG MacInnes
CC:
J Cooke Esq ITP, DTI
P Ricketts Esq
G
HKD, FCO
H Davies Esq FED, FCO
S Broadbent Esq - Econ Advisers, FCO
W G Ehrman Political Adviser, Hong Kong MR Morland Esq CMG - UKMis Geneva
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