TNAG-2056-FCO40-2934-Hong-Kong-and-the-Organisation-for-Economic-Cooperation-and--1990 — Page 102

Alive

心セット

CONFIDENTIAL

}

United Kingdom Delegation to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

19 rue de Franqueville 75116 Paris

Teisprone: 40 24 YO 28

: 45 24 98

WDS Gibby Esq, ERD

การ

MAD CALLY.

RECEIVED IN R2

DES

INDEX

2 1 MAY 1990

PA

Your referenc

Our referenc

Date

нив да

RECEIVED IN

016/15-

EX

iven 73

Ө

ISTRY

- 4 Jow 1990

18 May 1990

T

afe and Stanu

HONG KONG: MEMBERSHIP OF OECD

&

2115

Miss Read. Ward Sensible advice. B

1/5

YOU asked for a quick note on Hong Kong's membership prospects. I have discussed what follows with the Ambassador.

2.

In one sense, OECD membership for Hong Kong would seem the logical conclusion to OECD's intensifying dialogue with the dynamic economies of East Asia. A striking feature of the four OECD/DAE workshops was the degree of openness of Hong Kong's economy and the near identity of their approach to trade and economic problems with the OECD viewpoint. (In this, Hong Kong and Singapore are noticeably different from Korea and Taiwan). If a liberal economic and trade climate were the chief criterion for membership (cf Nicholas Bayne's hints in ECSS yesterday that this should be the case for Korea), then Hong Kong would have a better claim to be in the club than many of its present members. In terms of OECD's more formal

formal obligations (such as the OECD Codes of Liberalisation), I recall an exercise DAFFE carried out an-Heise a year or 80

so ago which showed that Hong Kong's position under the Codes would compare very favourably to that of the most liberal members of the OECD.

3.

But there are Lwo substantial obstacles to Hong Kong's accession to the Organisation:

(a) Legal Problems

There is some doubt as to whether Hong Kong would be eligible for OECD membership. HK's membership of GATT may not offer a valid precedent, as GATT is purely restricted to trade, while the OECD covers a wide range of economic matters other than trade. Article 16 of the OECD Convention states that "The [OECD] Council may decide to invite any Government prepared to assume the obligations of membership to accede to this Convention." Very informal soundings of the OECD Legal Adviser Christian Schricke suggest that the most natural interpretation of "Government" is

I