TNAG-0940-FCO40-1159-Visits-by-Foreign-and-Commonwealth-Ministers-and-officials-t-1980 — Page 118

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POSSIBLE VISIT BY THE DUS (ECON.) TO JAPAN, HONG KONG AND INDIA

1. I suggested to you on the telephone today that it would be very useful if you could find the time this year to pay a visit to Japan, Hong Kong and India.

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2. I explained that Sir Michael Wilford thought it desirable to expand our contacts at the senior official level not only with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs but also with other economic Ministries, including the Ministry of International Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Finance.

He and I were agreed that a visit by you could be very useful in this context. programme of calls lasting 3 days or more could easily be arranged. Sir Michael Butler, when he was doing your job, made a useful visit to Japan some 2 years or more ago. It helped him to understand better the Japanese scene and the Japanese appreciate cur thinking on international economic issues (NATO, North/South, energy, etc). It would obviously be important to avoid crossing wires with the Commission, but I thought that in practice this need present no real difficulties. Obviously one call would need to be on the Head of the Commission Delegation in Tokyo.

3. On Hong Kong I said that as a result of a recent conversation with Mr Dorward, the Secretary for Commerce and Industry, it was clear that there was a gap between thinking in Hong Kong on trade policy and thinking in Whitehall. We had no trade policy officer in Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong Government had to rely on the contacts of a rather junior officer in their London office for contacts with Whitehall. They are sure that the Governor would welcome a visit by you and that this too could be beneficial to UK/Hong Kong relations.

4. My third candidate for a visit was India. While our aid relations were likely to continue to be difficult because of the reduction in our bilateral aid for India Sir J Thomson was convinced of the growing importance of the Indian market for British exports. We also needed to think through the implications for our exports in world markets from the developing Indian industry. India was one of the fastest growing newly industrialised countries. Talks with Sir J Thomson were always stimulating!

5. You agreed in principle that a visit of this kind was a good idea. You did not have much knowledge of either Japan or India. You did not however think it possible to arrange a visit in the next few months, at least until we had settled the problem of the UK contribution to the EC budget. This suggested that it would be

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