TNAG-1821-FCO40-2584-Emigration-from-Hong-Kong-1988 — Page 194

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The

Sino-British Joint Liaison Group, consisting of five officials

on each side (with two Hong Kong officials as part of the

British team), calling on expert advice where necessary.

group has achieved a great deal since it started its work

years ago. It has agreed that Hong Kong should become a

separate contracting party to the General Agreement on Tariffs

and Trade (GATT) and that it should remain so after 1997. Hong

Kong duly became a party in its own right in April 1986,

thereby ending uncertainty over Hong Kong's future trading

position when the British umbrella is removed (China not

currently being a member of the GATT). It has agreed on travel

and identity documents for Hong Kong people to use up to and

after 1997. It has paved the way for Hong Kong to conclude its

own air service agreements the first, with the Netherlands,

has already been signed

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and to set up its own shipping

register. Thus, in areas of vital concern to Hong Kong

trade, travel and communications the Joint Declaration is

already being implemented. In other areas too, notably how to

maintain Hong Kong's status in the myriad international

agreements and organizations in which it participates, the

Joint Liaison Group is making good progress.

Secondly, both the British and Chinese governments are

publicly and firmly committed to making a success of the Joint

Declaration a legally binding international agreement,

registered with the United Nations, to which both have devoted

and continue to devote a great deal of time and effort, right

up to the highest levels of government.