THE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
Sir PATRICK Wright, kcmg, Mr D BLATHERWICK, OBE, Mr D Moss, CMG, Miss C PESTELL, CMG, Mr G GRIFFITHS AND Mr AR PAUL
3 May 1989]
[Mr Temple-Morris Contd
a part of multilateral discussion, for instance, in the trading group.
120. Thank you. Finally I cannot resist asking you this. Bearing in mind the increasingly political nature of many of these posts, do you not think it might be a very good thing if occasionally we reviewed the sometimes practised conduct of appointing a political man of some sort who might wish to retire to one or two of these posts?
(Sir Patrick Wright) I think, Mr Chairman, I really must leave it to Ministers to comment on that.
Mr Jopling
121. Looking at page 5 of Command 602 and chart 2.6 at the top, one thing that hit me between the eyes was the enormous share of that cake that goes to Africa south of the Sahara. If one looks to see what we spend there, £28 million, it is very nearly two thirds of what we spend on the whole of the Americas. While of course it is important, it does seem to me that it gets an enormous share of
the cake?
(Sir Patrick Wright) I think that there are two reasons for that. One is that Africa south of the Sahara includes a very large number of Common- wealth countries with a very strong tradition of British connection and therefore in diplomatic terms countries in which I think it would be very difficult for us not to maintain diplomatic rep- resentation. Secondly, it includes a very large number of countries. In other words, if you look at the breakdown-I cannot do the figures at my fingertips-in regard to south of the Sahara and think how many independent countries there are in that area compared, for instance, with Eastern Europe or even the Middle East and North Africa, it is a very large number.
122. You could say the same for the Americas with the Caribbean?
(Sir Patrick Wright) No. Even including the Caribbean the number is still very much smaller- I think the number is very much smaller.
(Mr Moss) Perhaps I may add that there are significant aid programmes also in many of these African countries south of the Sahara which require staff to administer in our posts.
Chairman: Very well. May we now turn to capital projects, on which you have something to say in the memorandum in reply to our questions.
Mr Wells
123. We have recently visited Moscow, as you know, Sir Patrick, and therefore have taken a par- ticular interest in your building programme there. You say in the memorandum that the costs of office conversion “have to be weighed against the likely timescale of the continued occupation of Morisa-Thoreza". Later you say that the new embassy buildings are unlikely to be occupied "before 1997". When we were in Moscow we saw the inadequacy of the current chancery accommo- dation. We also saw the inadequacy of the British
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[Continued
Council accommodation. Are you planning to improve the facilities both now and in future, par- ticularly the reception area, which is a real mess?
(Sir Patrick Wright) I am of course very con- scious of the problem. We are certainly looking at ways in which we can improve what is likely to be temporary accommodation up to the period concerned. It is an awkwardness. I am afraid, that with the decision taken to move the premises there is obviously a limit beyond which it would not be right or proper to spend great deal of money on buildings that are going to be occupied only temporarily, even if the word "temporary" is quite an expanding adjective. May I ask whether Mr Moss wants to add anything to that. I think the answer is, yes, we will certainly try and make as much improvement as we can in full consultation with the ambassador and his staff, but of course we have to recognise that we are embarked on an extremely expensive operation to move the embassy and residence to other property.
(Mr Moss) I can add, Mr Chairman, that we have essentially seen the needs of Moscow as falling into three phases. There was a series of short-term improvements that were needed that we have largely completed now. They are minor in each case but add up to a reasonable degree of expendi- ture. Then in the medium term we plan to spend rather larger sums on the existing buildings in Moscow for the reasons already touched upon. We will be in those buildings probably for another eight or nine years, and they do need work. Then of course there is the very expensive project to build both a new offices and a new residence in Moscow, but, as the Permanent Under Secretary said, I do not think we shall see those completed before 1997 or possibly later.
124. What is the cost in the current year of plan- ning work and professional fees for the new build- ing, in fact, for both new buildings because you have a new residence and a new office buildings, have you not?
(Mr Moss) I do not know the answer to that. Perhaps we can let you have a note on the exact figure.
Chairman: We should be grateful for that.
Mr Wells
125. We need the buildings separately because you are doing two buildings, are you not?
(Mr Moss) Yes.
Chairman
126. Perhaps I may insert a question about plan- ning work and new buildings in another theatre altogether. The Committee has recently visited Hong Kong. While I want in no way to anticipate our own discussions and conclusions on the visit, it cannot be ignored that there was constantly raised with us while we were in Hong Kong the question of future staffing and physical representation by Her Majesty's Government in Hong Kong after 1997, which will then of course be a subordinate region although a very special and unusual one, of
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.