FLAG A
FLAG B
CODE 18-77
Mr Quantrill
Quaperil
Mr McLaren
Reference
CONFIDENTIAL
HKK 345/6
NO.
Wo
Mr Tas
Action
14
RELATIONS BETWEEEN HONG KONG AND HUNGARY
1. I apologise for the delay in replying to the letter from Mr Parsons in Budapest about the issuance of Hong Kong visas to Hungarians. I am afraid the letter was mislaid.
2=
Hong Kong exports to Hungary in 1977 totalled
HK$ 37,390,462, mainly clothing, making Hungary the most important East European market but accounting for only about 0.1% of total Hong Kong exports. Imports from Hungary were only HK$ 5,993,371 (0.01% of the total). The position was similar in the first six months of this year although Hungary had slipped to second place behind Poland as a market. East Europe as a whole takes 0.4% of Hong Kong' S exports and provides 0.6% of imports. I would therefore agree with Mr Quantrill's minute that the volume of trade does not justify a change of visa policy. There is also some indication that the ease with which visas are granted does not have a direct bearing on the volume of imports from East European countries, since all of these are treated equally but Hungary's export performance is relatively poor.
3. The visa policy is laid out in Circular '0' 14/74 of 22 January 1974, which is still valid. Paragraph 5a makes clear that the Hong Kong Government will be prepared to authorise the issue of a visa if it is in Hong Kong's interest in commercial terms. I have seen no evidence that this policy is not being adhered to. Certainly I am aware of cases in the other categories in paragraph 5 where visas have been issued.
4.
Despite the improvement in UK/China relations and Hong Kong/China relations I doubt whether this improvement would extend to Chinese acquiescence in a relaxation of visa policy towards Eastern Europeans.
5.
I attach a draft reply to Mr Parsons.
1 November 1978
J Thompson
ien
Hong Kong & General Dept
W.E.Quantill
1/17
CONFIDENTIAL
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