XN000022-1990-12-01 — Page 2

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DELEGATION ACHIEVED WHAT IT SET OUT TO DO: GOVERNOR

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THE GOVERNOR, SIR DAVID WILSON, SAID TODAY (SATURDAY) THAT DELEGATION HE LED TO JAPAN HAD ACHIEVED EXACTLY WHAT THEY SET OUT ACHIEVE.

THE

ΤΟ

CO-

SPEAKING TO REPORTERS AT THE AIRPORT ON HIS RETURN SIR DAVID SAID IT HAD BEEN A USEFUL VISIT FOR THE HONG KONG/JAPAN BUSINESS OPERATION COMMITTEE.

THE

THE

"THEY HAD GOOD TALKS, REALISTIC TALKS ON WAYS OF IMPROVING TRADE BETWEEN

LEVEL, HONG KONG AND JAPAN; AND ON THE POLITICAL OVERALL POLITICAL FRAMEWORK, THERE WAS VERY MUCH OF A WELCOME FOR HONG KONG TEAM.

"AND ONE

SIDE

OF

THE

IN

A GETS

SENSE OF WILLINGNESS ON THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT. THE JAPANESE POLITICIANS TO TAKE AN INTEREST HONG KONG, THE GOVERNOR SAID.

זי

"THEY SEE HONG KONG AS A VERY USEFUL GATEWAY FOR TRADE THEMSELVES AND CHINA, AND WE WERE ENCOURAGING THEM TO THINK IN TERMS AND

LONG-TERM WE WERE ENCOURAGING THEM TO THINK RELATIONSHIP WITH HONG KONG," HE ADDED.

SIR

ABOUT

BETWEEN THOSE THEIR

JAPAN

WAS.

DAVID SAID HE CAME BACK WITH THE MESSAGE THAT VERY MUCH INTERESTED IN HONG KONG AND KEEN IN THINKING NOT JUST SHORT- TERM BUT LONG-TERM AS WELL.

WASN'T

"THAT'S THE SORT OF IMPRESSION THAT I WANTED TO GET. I GOING TO SIGN TREATIES; TO LOOK FOR BITS OF PAPER, IT WASN'T THAT SORT OF VISIT AT ALL.

OF PART

OUR TRADE FIGURES

"IT'S

UP A LONG PATIENT EFFORT TO BUILD RELATIONS WITH JAPAN AND TO GET THE RIGHT ATTITUDE BY LEADING IN THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL WORLD TOWARDS HONG KONG," HE SAID.

THE

THE GOVERNOR NOTED THAT SINCE THE BUSINESS CO-OPERATION COMMITTEE

IMPROVING BEEN SET UP PROGRESS WAS BEING MADE IN BALANCE OF TRADE BETWEEN HONG KONG AND JAPAN.

"WE

HAD

STEADILY

HAVE STEADILY BEEN IMPROVING OUR POSITION; REMOVING SOME OF THE BARRIERS TO TRADE AND EACH YEAR OUR EXPORTS JAPAN HAVE GONE UP, SIR DAVID SAID.

"

BEEN

FOR

PART

HE POINTED OUT THAT THE WEAKNESS OF THE YEN IN THE EARLY

OUR BUSINESSMEN OF THIS YEAR MADE IT HARDER FOR OUR EXPORTERS: "BUT ARE DETERMINED TO WORK HARDER AT IT AND FIND THE RIGHT WAYS TO PROMOTE OUR EXPORTS.

PI

BY

THE GOVERNOR NOTED THAT THERE WAS A GREAT DEAL OF INTEREST

I THINK JAPANESE FIRMS IN HONG KONG'S NEW AIRPORT PROJECT: "WE HAVE, IT'S OVER 60 JAPANESE FIRMS THAT HAVE ALREADY EXPRESSED AN INTEREST IN VARIOUS PARTS OF THE AIRPORT PROJECT."

/SIR DAVID