TNAG-1957-FCO40-2786-Hong-Kong-Animals-and-Plants-(Protection-of-Endangered-Speci-1989 — Page 55

CONFIDENTIAL

335

Mr Paul, HKD

PAUL,

151/1

HKCIJI

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Miss Marsden Seessa

безза

Mr Stone

-р - pl draft

Hong Kong and the Ivory Trade

The Secretary of State held an office meeting this morning to discuss Hong Kong and the ivory trade. He agreed that it was reasonable to enter a 6 month reservation on Hong Kong behalf. It would be high- handed and unjust not to do so (or to compensate them which did not seem to be on the cards).

The Secretary of State would be grateful for a redrafted letter from himself to Mr Patten. He might speak to Mr Patten before this issued. The letter and our subsequent presentation to the public should present the issue as one of whether Hong Kong should be included in the ivory ban at all or not. Neither we nor Hong Kong were trying to exempt Hong Kong from the ban. Hong Kong would, therefore, implement the ban and introduce the necessary legislation. This would inevitably inflict hardship on many people in Hong Kong whose livelihoods depended on the trade. It was reasonable that they should be given 6 months to do this. We should then give details of how precisely Hong Kong would be enforcing the ban and ensuring that the 6 months reservation period was not abused, ie that no new ivory entered Hong Kong during the period. We should also mention the retraining programme that the Hong Kong Government was planning as evidence of their good faith in implementing the ban. Finally, we needed to cover the question of how ivory products would be disposed of during the 6 months reservation period.

& b

29 November 1989

CC:

PS/Mr Waldegrave PS/Mr Maude

PS/PUS

Mr Bayne

Mr McLaren

Mr Beetham, MAED

Mr Burns, News Dept

Mr Edwards, Legal Advisers

Mr Lidington

CONFIDENTIAL

(R N Peirce)