TNAG-0137-FCO40-173-Supply-of-political-and-economic-information-to-Hong-Kong-to-1969 — Page 20

(118281) Dd. 391599 1,500M 2/69 Hw.

NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN

Registry

No.

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION

Top Secret.

Secret.

Confidential.

Restricted.

Unclassified.

PRIVACY MARKING

DRAFT

letter

To:-

Address as at (1) on HKK 6/13

Type 1 +

From

Mr. Wilford

Telephone No. & Ext.

Department

which the

In Confidence

+ Somanant in

involved vo

facing

being

miracure commercial ant

The continuing growth of economic activity in Hong

such Aleat

Kong has been presenting their Department of Commerce

and Industry, the equivalent of the Board of Trade

the

of

The usceroung beakground with serious probleme over obtaining information. sk

2།

a dependent territory, but with her arrange-

the Toranial fexrvement is not supplied with the commercial mento, she does not see a great deal of information acaronic spot which issue from aur crevrees pists & are support which would normally be readily available to a countrỳ saust to them

Stavera

with her own overseas Missions. Hong Kong in fact only

has four overseas representatives (London, Washington,

No- Geneva (GATT) and Brussels (EEC)).

Embassy

The Department of Commerce and Industry is frequently

faced with an urgent need to form a view on some action

anfronted

or policy of foreign government, or to prepare a brief

com macial

Unfortunately the "Financial

for her negotiators.

心

Times" does not provide all the services its advertise-

ments claim, and Arthur Maddocks, our Political Adviser

help to in Hong Kong, has asked if certain posts could supply

the information required. A secondary reason for

wanting such information is that, While senior members

4

of the Department have travelled widely, many of the

younger staff have only a limited knowledge of the

mong

ん

countries constituting Hong Kong's important markets,

and to read reports on them is a necessary part of

their "education".

All the appropriate FCO Departments have been con-

sulted, and no objections to this request have been

raised by them. The only problem raised by the

/ Departments ...