During my discussion of this matter with the Hong Kong authorities, they made the following points:
(1) All the Export Credit Insurance Corporation's capital has been subscribed by the Government which also guarantees the liabilities assumed so that considerable sums of public money are at risk.
(11) While the Corporation and Government appreciate
that British overseas posts cannot be expected to uniertake special assignments as for E.C.G.D. (such as the provision of credit information on individual buyers), the Corporation's work would be greatly facilitated if oversens posts could copy to
Hong Kong:
(a) the information prepared as a matter
of routine for B..G.D. on import and exchange control regulations and sub- sequent changes in these regulations; and
(b) the periodical economic reports which over-
seas posts prepare and send to various departments" in London.
The extra work involved would at most be the actual despatch to Hong Kong of a copy of these papers.
(111) The supply of information requested at (11) (a)
above should present no security problem, and if (ii) (b) raises difficulty on security grounds the information could be sent direct to the Commerce and Industry Department of the Hong Kong Government which, besides finding such reports helpful anyway, could be relied on to exercise discretion in passing them on to the Corporation or to follow any
instructions about passing the information on whet a post may wish to give.
I myself am convinced that Hong Kong's request is a /reasonable
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