TNAG-1844-FCO40-2619-House-of-Commons-Select-Committee-on-Foreign-Affairs-enquiry-1989 — Page 69

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TRANSCRIPT C BONG KONG SELECT COMMITTER ARETI IG

27

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22 MAR 89

XR JOPLING

(CONT):

Are you not concerned that this low rate of interest does seem to suggest some sort of distrust of the new status and again your Memorandum also cays that you have launched a major diplomatic campaign to secure worldwide acceptance of this new document and you tell us that no country has said that it will not

recognise the new BTD passport?

I would like you to say whether any country has undertaken positively to accept it as a fully valid British passport and the final question I want to ask yuu abut the BIO passport is, might, do you think, countries be less willing to accept it after 1997

than they are now?

FOREIGN SECRETARY:

Well I am sure it is not necessary to tell an ex-Chief Whip of the Conservative Party that people take time to get used to new ideas and particularly if the new idea starts off without a

mustive enthusiasm behind it.

percent.

So obviously the acceptance rate of the BIO passport started

off low. I think in autum 1987 the preference rate was about 13

It has now gone up to 18 percent plus early this year.

And I think that as more and more people use it and find that it

is workable so it will become more popular and more acceptable.