TNAG-1748-FCO40-2467-Visit-by-Sir-Geoffrey-Howe--Secretary-of-State-for-Foreign-a-1988 — Page 171

VISIT OF SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

TO HONG KONG, 29 31 MAY 1988

THE BRITISH TRADE COMMISSION

The

British Trade Commission in Hong Kong is an FCO Post. It works

on a day-to-day basis to the Department of Trade. It has ten

UK-based officers and thirty locally-engaged staff. Ninety per cent of its activities are related to trade promotion. It also provides administrative support for Diplomatic Service staff seconded to the

Hong Kong Government and elsewhere in the territory; buys medicines

and stores for other Far Eastern Posts; acts as paymaster to Crown

Suppliers for furniture for posts as far away as South America;

the regional Diplomatic Mails Office; makes arrangements for visiting Whitehall personnel; and is setting-up the new Joint Liaison Group

office. All these functions make it a big-spending Post. Turnover

in March this year was £1.8 million.

runs

The Trade Commission has dealt with thirty British Trade groups in

the last year. The number of visitors (who have included the

representatives of a large number of small to medium-sized companies) is one indication of growing British business interest in Hong Kong.

Another is an increasing number of new company offices and

and British

stores (Marks and Spencers opened this month; Mothercare, Habitat,

British Homes Stores, Richards, Gieves & Hawkes and others have been

established within the last year). Also in the last 18 months, the

Trade Commission has helped with the establishment of a British

Chamber of Commerce.

As a result of all the extra activity, British sales in Hong Kong

reached a record £l billion in 1987. This was two-thirds as much as

Britain sold in Japan, more than in any other Far Eastern country and

only slightly less than was sold to India. It was more than twice as

much as Britain sold in mainland China. However, the £l billion

total imports. The

represented only three per cent of Hong Kong's

main supplier was China (31 per cent). During the last few years most

of the major suppliers (including Japan and the U.S.) have lost

market share to China.