TNAG-0780-FCO40-984-Involvement-of-Hong-Kong-in-air-services-agreements-1978 — Page 121

GR

AR 300 IMMEDIATE

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27 1978

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TO IMMEDIATE CANBERRA TELNO 372 OF 26 JULY

AND TO IMMEDIATE HONG KONG (FOR GOVERNOR AND BCARFE)

PRIORITY WELLINGTON, DELHI, SINGAPORE, KUALA LUMPUR, JAKARTA, BANGKOK, MANILA, BAHRAIN, WASHINGTON, PARIS, BONN, ROME, THE HAGUE INFO SAVING VIENNA, BELGRADE, JOHANNESBURG, ATHENS, OTTAWA

MR. MIPT: UK/AUSTRALIA AIR SERVICES

FOLLOWING IS TEXT OF MESSAGE FROM ROGERS TO COVER STATEMENT IN

MIPT.

QUOTE:

1. 1 AM AFRAID IT HAS TAKEN LONGER THAN I HAD HOPED TO SUBMIT TO OUR MINISTERS THE MATTERS WHICH WE DISCUSSED WITH YOU AND YOUR COLLEAGUES HERE LAST MONTH, I AM GLAD TO SAY, HOWEVER, THAT THEY HAVE NOW APPROVED THE ATTACHED STATEMENT OF OUR POSITION WHICH I HOPE, YOU WILL FIND HELPFUL. IT OCCURRED TO US THAT YOU MIGHT WISH TO SHOW THIS STATEMENT TO THE GOVERNMENTS OF OTHER COUNTRIES AND IT HAS BEEN DRAFTED WITH THIS IN MIND.

2. ARRANGEMENTS ARE BEING MADE VERY URGENTLY TO DISCUSS THE POINTS MENTIONED IN THE SECOND AND FOURTH PARAGRAPHS OF OUR STATEMENT. I HOPE IT WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE TO EXPLORE FURTHER THE IMPLICATIONS FOR HONG KONG (PARA 5 OF THE STATEMENT).

3. AS REGARDS THE FOURTH PARAGRAPH, IT WOULD BE VERY HELPFUL TO ME IF A REPRESENTATIVE OF LAKER AIRWAYS COULD BE

PRESENT FOR OUR DISCUSSION ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF INCORPORATING A

MODEST CHARTER OPERATION INTO YOUR PROPOSED SCHEME. 1 APPRECIATE

HOWEVER THAT THIS COULD NOT BE DONE WITHOUT DISCLOSING TO LAKER

LINFORMATION

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