TNAG-1955-FCO40-2784-Trade-of-rare-and-endangered-species-in-Hong-Kong-1989 — Page 143

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am not sure if he para at */ adds anything.

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LETTER TO MR HANS K E AU, NATHAN IVORY PACIORY LTD, HONG

3 0 JUN 1989

Thank you̸] for

noun

with introspectivity maili legal traki illegal.

letter of 20 Tune, to the T.me Minister about

the ecently introduced ba on the import of dvor:

I have been asked to reply.

uropean Communi

into the

25/6

The Government. does appreciate the difficult

iti

which

you and other legal traders in ivory now find yourselves

result of the growing pressure to ban all

A

,

Ivory

products, We

are aware that many traders co.

actly

with

the

CITES controls and only deal in legally obtained ivorų.

It

is, however,

I am sure you know, extremely difficult to

distinguish legally obtained ivory once it has been worked from

legal ivery and illegal ¿vory can enter TAZ

hrough

this

loophole.

Furthermore, it is clear that existing

Crok. under

the Convention on International Trade in Endangered

Wild. Fauna and Flora (CITES),

Species

of

including the quota system,

have

6 of

not been sufficient to halt a severe decline in the popula

the African

Yanti I

understand that during the Pant ten

years, numbers nave decreased by 45%.

The

Government have become increasingly concerned about the

plight of the elephant and now lieve that stronger measures, are

vital to conserve the species Lord Caithnes 3 visited Kenya

recently and took the opportunity to` discuss the situation

wildlife EXI rts there. As a result, he announced on 23 May the

with

Government

view that there was now A Case

ansferring the

1