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Mr Donald
HICK 026/16 RECEIVES IN REGISTRY NO. 5]
06 APR 1981
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29.4. Awald Ашати
Your minute of 19 March to Mr Burns. I apologise for not replying until now, but as you know I have been away in the Pacific.
1.
2.
I would welcome the prospect of a visit by the PUS to some of SPD's countries when he is in the area between 7 and 17 October. I think there are two good candidates, and I would hope that he could visit both of them. A visit to New Zealand would provide useful reassurance to them of our continuing interest in the Pacific area, and the PUS might find the New Zealanders' own views on the region interesting. The New Zealanders would be flattered by a visit after the CHOGM in Melbourne, at which they may have felt a little overshadowed by Australia. The second candidate is Papua New Guinea, which is growing in regional impor- tance, especially since its military assistance to Vanuatu. It has large British investments, increasing prospects for British firms and a surprisingly large UK community (about 5,000). It is also a fairly dangerous post, because of the high urban crime rate, and a visit by the PUS would be a useful boost to morale. The PUS might also be interested to visit a country which adheres scrupulously to democratic principles despite having over 700 different languages amongst only three million people, and being a place where cannibalism is still occasionally practised!
3.
There are frequent flights between Australia and New Zealand, and Port Moresby could be on the PUS's route from Australia to Hong Kong in any case. I have not suggested Fiji, because the PUS has been there; and there would be practical difficulties about his going to most of the smaller islands.
1 April 1981
cc:
Mr Burns SEAD
Mr McLaren, FED
Mr Clift, HKGD
Mr Coles, SAD
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C M CARRUTHERS
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