TNAG-1995-FCO40-2842-Drug-trafficking-in-Hong-Kong-1989 — Page 188

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January

February

March

<<

visit of Spanish 25-27 (to be confirmed); signature of Swiss agreement;

1st week, visit of Nigerians (preliminary talks);

visit of US team for MLAT talks;

possible visit to Sweden to conclude

agreement;

possible visit of Italians for negotiations.

visit to France (8th);

possible visit to Germany.

-

Beyond March talks with Demark, and possibly

Netherlands and Belgium.

b) Mr Potts said that a Portuguese representative at the UN Convention had shown interest in an agreement. He undertook to provide more details of the contact which FCO will follow up with the Embassy. He also mentioned that he had heard that the possible cause of the previously mixed reactions from France were that the Ministry of Justice were not keen on bilateral agreements, preferring multilaterals, but that the Ministry of Interior felt that bilaterals were more important. He also asked what stage Ireland had reached with its legislation and suggested a chaser would be timely.

c) Mr Minter reported that Mr Eggar planned to visit Venezuela in January and Mexico in April.

d) Mr Edwards said that the Pompidou Group Ministerial meeting had been rescheduled for 18-19 May. DTOA agreements will be on the agenda. It was agreed that this meeting would provide a good opportunity to use the presence of relevant European Ministers to promote our bilateral interests in this area. Mr White said that at the next quarterly meeting we should identify specific action we might take to get best use from this gathering.

e) Mr Wesley said that Customs had a number of cases in the Netherlands and that progress on an agreement would be welcome. He also said that Customs had received help from both Luxembourg and Liechtenstein, despite their reluctance to begin discussions on an agreement. It was agreed that FCO would renew contacts with both countries via the appropriate diplomatic posts. In the same vein, Mr White, having asked if there was any reason why Monaco (a financial centre) had not been approached, agreed that FCO should discuss this with the Embassy in Paris.

GB1AIK

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