TNAG-0466-FCO40-531-Hong-Kong-s-interests-in-EEC-capitals-1974 — Page 48

G. F. 323

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But it should also be remembered that national leaders and senior civil servants also read their daily newspapers and watch their own television services and a starting point in any such visitor programme must be aimed at increasing media coverage within the E.E. C. over a carefully selected field. Whereas government's own information output must follow a hard commercial line based primarily on the interests of the country where the material is being distributed, the visiting journalist or television producer may be persuaded in his own right to tackle sympathetically a social problem dear to our hearts which in a government handout can only find its way into an Editor's waste-paper basket. In the context of our commercial publicity overseas it should be remembered that the internal statement announcing, for example, an increase in our exports, which may be of value in building business confidence within Hong Kong, may have an adverse effect within the importing country and much more effort is needed in Hong Kong to look for stories, even small ones, that indicate progress and advantages for the European country in its commercial relationship with Hong Kong. This search for suitable material must extend far beyond the strict confines of government policy, or of T.D.C. or H.K.T.A. operations. It must look at problems of commercial contracts with European participation, engineering, communications, equipment suppliers, successes by European enter- prises established in Hong Kong, banking, industrial training, design and research. Specialist departments of Government such as Medical and Health and Public Korks Department should participate actively in an overseas promotion programme by participating in the proposed inward and outward mission programmes with a view to the publicity spin-off which can result.

95. If all this is done, what benefits will result? If nothing more is done will we suffer? No categoric answer can be given either way. As I said at the beginning of this report this type of analysis must be a matter of personal judgement and commonsense. I can say that I believe positive benefits would result in the long term; that important areas of ignorance exist and that I am convinced it would be totally indefensible to ignore them in the light of our reliance upon commerce and industry as our lifeblood.

96. How then to implement this increased public relations and information effort? 1 considered whether a new overseas government

• information service was needed with offices scattered throughout Europe but rapidly came to the conclusion that this would be inefficient and, in the main, an unnecessary duplication of existing T.D.C./H.K.T.A. effort. The linchpin of any overseas promotion exercise must continue to be trade promotion, industrial investment and travel and because of Hong Kong's Colonial status, we can operate more quickly and with greater flexibility through non-government statutory bodies such as the T.D. C. and H.K.T.A. They must therefore remain Hong Kong's main organisations of overseas promotion and wherever possible their representative offices should be our principal promotion outlets. But some of the additional effort I have proposed can only be carried out with government initiative and this is why I believe a small unit in Information Services Department devoting

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