MCS Weston Esq CMG
SED
FCO
M
B
CONFIDENTIAL & PERSONAL
Deeft
Me Fthinly We slice
&
it consider fly
in de couLAKE
Männerbeti,
usiful yer
BRITISH EMBASSY' LISBON
breking Pus.
25 February 1987
2/3
Dean Weston,
UK/PORTUGAL 1987
1.
I
The Ambassador was intending to send you a letter after the Royal Visit setting out our planned activities for the rest of 1987 and suggesting where we might concentrate our resources. only had time to discuss this subject briefly with him before he left for his operation and I am not sure that what follows is precisely what he had in mind. But, given your forthcoming visit here, I thought it might be useful to get something off straight- away, rather than wait until the Ambassador returns to work.
2. I attach an annex setting out our planned activities for 1987. We must clearly follow up the Royal Visit and the success of the Oporto exhibition in the commercial field. There is the prospect of the sale of some further British Aerospace aircraft to the Azores, which would have a radical, although probably only temporary, effect on the balance of trade, which has stubbornly remained in Portugal's favour for several years. We are also thinking of organising a fashion show, with a view to selling our deisgn services to the highly developed Portuguese textile industry, and will do our best to provide our limited Embassy premises for small sectoral exhibitions, such as that planned for gardening equipment, when local agents can show their British principal's wares. We have telegraphed separately about the idea that the Secretary of State for the Environment, Carlos Pimenta, should be invited to visit the UK, which could have some commercial spin-off. We will have to keep a close lookout for opportunities where EC expenditure is concerned: up to now most of this has been in the agricultural field, but some industrial projects may also begin to go through. If we are going to have to pay more money into the Community budget, it would be nice to try and get some of it back through exploiting such opportunities.
CONFIDENTIAL
& PERSONAL
13.
Cultural
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.