CONFIDENTIAL
problems considerably. Mr Blaker said there would still be 55,000 refugees left. Mr de Haan understood that the US government were taking a quota. Mr Murray said that the US government's planned quota for Hong Kong was 2,000 a month, but they were having difficulty for admini- strative reasons in reaching this figure. Mr de Haan thought the US had moved 15,000 refugees from South-East Asia in the last month. Mr Murray queried this figure (it seemed very high), but said that it was even more important to make sure that Hong Kong was not ignored.
UK Resettlement Programme
5.
!
Mr Blaker said that the UK had now admitted almost all of the 1500 quota announced by the last Government, and about 500 of the new 10,000' quota. By the end of the year we would have taken nearly 5,000 Indo-Chinese refugees. Mr Heidler queried this figure and said that he thought that this was only an acceptance of almost 5,000 and not the figure who had actually arrived in the UK.
Laotian Refugees
6. Mr de Haan described a UNHCR initiative concerning Laotian refugees in Thailand, who had crossed the border into Thailand from 1977 to 1978 because of the drought and subsequent famine. Under UNHCR auspices there had been some agreement between the Thai and Lao authorities for repatriation projects in Laos. UN bodies such as UNDP and WFP were also involved. Mr de Haan hoped that this kind of project would not only discourage people from leaving Laos but also induce some of those who had left to return.
General Topics
7.
He
Mr de Haan asked how Mr Blaker viewed South-East Asia generally. Mr Blaker referred to his Chatham House speech. thought that in the long-term there were reasonable prospects for weaning Vietnam away from the Soviet Union. In the short-term, he was not particularly optimistic. (At this point, Mr Blaker had to leave for another engagement. Before he left, Mr de Haan said that he would again be in London on 20 November and hoped to make contact).
8. Mr Simpson-Orlebar noted that the UNHCR's recent Executive Committee meeting in Geneva had gone well. As far as UNHCR's General Programme Budget went, we hoped to be able to announce our contribution at the pledging conference in November. We would try to be as generous as we could, but Mr de Haan would no doubt appreciate the financial constraints under which we were working. Mr de Haan said that there would be two Pledging Conferences this year in New York. The first one, to be held on 5 November, was primarily for the Cambodian problem. The Secretary- General had recently sent out an appeal to all Governments to be as generous as possible over this. The second Pledging Conference, to be held on 16 November, would be the UNHCR's regular one. Mr de Haan noted that the US had already earmarked funds for the first Conference which would go to refugee camps in Thailand. Ile hoped that the UK
/would
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