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4.
Mr Murray said that there was no date at present for such a meeting. We agreed with the Malaysians that there should be no public link between air services and Concorde. Dr Owen said that of course we all recognised privately that there was such a link; but unfortunately we had little room for manoeuvre in air services. Tengku Rithauddeen said he was sure that his Prime Minister would be happy to receive an emissary in Kuala Lumpur to discuss the matter. Dr Owen said he would readily travel on the inaugural Concorde flight! Perhaps Concorde could restart, at least for a trial period.
5. Mr Murray commented that agreement on a trial period would have a beneficial effect for any air services talks. Tengku Rithauddeen said that some hint of an extra frequency to London, perhaps by mid 1979, would help. His Prime Minister was the only person who could take the decision to allow Concorde to restart. Dr Owen said he would take another look at the matter, and would write to Tengku Rithauddeen after consulting his colleagues.
6. Mr Murray said there had been one useful round of talks, and another was due. But we could not promise anything in advance of detailed talks. Tengku Rithauddeen said he was not a technical expert, but he understood that MAS had proposed a self-regulating growth programme based on traffic/capacity projections.
7. Dr Owen repeated his offer to write to Tengku Rithauddeen. He said aviation matters were the only issue between us; Malaysia had been very helpful over Brunei.
8.
Mr Murray said that Lord Goronwy Roberts and the Sultan were still exchanging messages about a date for the signing ceremony. No propitious date had yet emerged. The Queen had been very happy to arrange for a member of Her family to be present in Brunei for the ceremony, but clearly not over the Christmas period.
9.
Mr Simons noted that the Treaty would come into effect on 31 December, whatever later date might be chosen for signature. Tengku Rithauddeen said that the Malaysians had tried to be helpful at the UN, where they were seeking a consensus in the Fourth Committee.
10. Dr Owen said that he very much wanted to visit South East Asia. He was acutely conscious of not having done so since he took office. At least in the case of Malaysia, a Commonwealth country, he felt free to invite himself. Tengku Rithauddeen said he now invited Dr Owen; the Malaysians would very much like to see him.
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