TNAG-0625-FCO40-773-Trade-missions-to-UK-from-Hong-Kong-1977 — Page 24

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SECRETARY'S MEETING WITH THE HONG KONG SHIPOWNERS

MONDAY 9th MAY 1977

Purpose of the Meeting

The owners will be seeking Mr Kaufman and yourself for about half an hour. The main meeting with officials where their proposals will be discussed in detail will be taken by

Mr Rawlinson. The group will also be having talks with

British Shipbuilders. You are therefore advised to confine the talks to fairly general matters, and to avoid being drawn into detailed discussion of, in particular, how the owners' bareboat charter proposals would be implemented.

Background

2. Full details of the visit and likely points which may arise are set out in the briefing for Mr Rawlinsons meeting, a copy

of which is attached.

3. In brief the main proposal of the delegation is that in return for placing orders in UK yards they should receive a charter income guaranteed by the Government which would

cover the costs of financing the ships. The owners

envisage placing charters with public sector bodies such as British Steel. Some of the ovmers may also have proposals for a straightforward purchase of ships.

Line to Take

4. After welcoming the group, and referring to your own recent visit to Hong Kong and the Far East, you might go on to say that as the group is to have discussions with Mr Rawlinson about the details of their proposals, it might be sensible at this meeting to confine the talks to the more general aspects of their ideas.

1.