TNAG-1844-FCO40-2619-House-of-Commons-Select-Committee-on-Foreign-Affairs-enquiry-1989 — Page 11

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BONG KONG SELECT COMMITTEE MEETING

22 MAR 89

PURETGĦ SECRETARY (COFT).

We subsequently agreed with the Chinese, in the JLG, that Hong Kong could conclude ASAS before 1997 because it is important in our judgment for Hong Kong, as a major economic financial and trading centre, to have a civil aviation industry that can respond rapidly to the changing developments in the world aviation

industry and in that part of the world.

So so far we have got four ÁSAS in place with the Netherlands, Canada, Switzerland and Brunei, each of those agreements has involved very complicated and detailed

negotiations.

There are

a further 20 British ASAs containing

routes which include Hong Kong which will require separation out

as additional Hong Kong ASAs which we shall be continuing

as well

to press abend with,

I hope you will forgive the detail, but it is an insight into the enormous detail of the work that is going on in the JLG.

CHAINMAN:

Yes you are right.

Obviously there is a further enormous

I think just one

list of things which the JLG is looking at.

question that interests us is:

what about after 1997? Of course

the JLG will go on and how do you see its role shaping after the

bandover date?