TNAG-1749-FCO40-2468-Visit-by-Sir-Geoffrey-Howe--Secretary-of-State-for-Foreign-a-1988 — Page 25

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- I have followed Hong Kong affairs very

closely since I became Foreign Secretary

5 years ago. The territory and its

future have always been very high on my

list of priorities. Like most others

who watch from outside, I am stunned by

your spectacular economic successes;

your booming trade and investment; your

full employment; your GDP growth; your

ambitious development projects.

like

But I am well aware too that,

everybody else, you have problems as

well. I have started my programme here

in Hong Kong by looking at one, the

problem of the Vietnamese refugees.

Indeed it is all too often the problems

rather than the successes which cross my

desk. That is the fate of Ministers.

You are

the envy of Western and Eastern economic

managers.

Those problems need to be kept in

perspective against the wider picture of

remarkable success. And that is one

reason why I particularly welcome this

opportunity to come back here now to see

for myself.