CONFIDENTIAL
the Australians in January we had reached agreement on a package of fares for the Australia/Hong Kong routes but we had held these back in deference to ASEAN interests. This concern did not,
however, appear to have been reciprocated.
8.
Low undertook to report these views back urgently to his
government.
9.
Low also sought to probe the state of our air services relations with Malaysia, about which he had evidently been well briefed beforehand. Rogers declined to be drawn into details but said that although for tactical reasons the leader of the Malaysian team had expressed himself as disappointed with the progress made at the meeting in Kuala Lumpur in February, the two teams had in fact made more progress than in a comparable time at a corresponding stage in any negotiations in which he had been involved. We and the Malaysians had agreed, some time ago, to carry out a full-scale review of our air services arrangements: and apart from a short formal session last year this was the first time the two teams had got down to business. A great deal of progress had been made in laying the foundations but it was not to be expected that after a mere 3 days of work much of the superstructure would show. He noted that Singapore had already had six rounds of talks with Malaysia, in a similar review, without reaching agreement.
Note: Mr Rajaratnam's letter referred to in para 1 above was
delivered under cover of a Note dated 4 April and was not available until after this meeting.
Ј в
FILES MAED
SEAD
SPD
HK & GD MR.CORTAZZI MISS BROWN MR. MURRAY
COPIES TO:
CAIR/DOT
3
CONFIDENTIAL
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.