TNAG-0767-FCO40-971-Supplies-of-electrical-power-for-Hong-Kong-Castle-Peak-power-1978 — Page 196

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POSSIBLE CALL ON THE PRIME MINISTER BY SIR LAWRENCE KADOORIE

1. The Governor of Hong Kong has asked the PUS to try to ensure

that Sir Lawrence Kadoorie sees the Prime Minister while he is

in London this month. Sir M MacLehose maintains that it is

important that the Prime Minister should see Sir Lawrence to

reassure him over the probable financial terms for a contract

for a new electrical transmission system in Hong Kong worth

£150m.

2•

The personal attentions paid by the Prime Minister to Sir Lawrence are believed to have been most important in persuading the latter's company, China Light and Power, to place an order recently in the UK for a new power station worth £150m, rather than put the project to international tender (where British companies may well have lost out to the Japanese). The Department of Industry's proposal that the Prime Minister should see Sir Lawrence again on his present visit to the UK was initially turned down by No. 10 because of pressure on the Prime Minister's

diary. No. 10 indicated, however, that the Prime Minister wished to continue to pay personal attention to Sir Lawrence and hoped

to be able to see him the next time he is in London. The

Department of Industry have now approached No. 10 again to ask

them to reconsider their decision.

3.

This is essentially a question of export promotion tactics, and it is mainly for the DOI and the Department of Trade to make the running. But it is a fundamental part of our policy towards

Hong Kong that we should seek to narrow the present gap between British exports to Hong Kong and our imports from there, which

is a source of some resentment in this country. I submit that a

little more attention paid to Sir Lawrence by the Prime Minister might be the crucial factor in persuading him to go firm on a British supplier for £150m. worth of transmission gear.

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