TNAG-2129-FCO40-3044-Hong-Kong-and-the-ivory-trade-1990 — Page 32

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licencing, will combat illegal trade. Only ivory which has been obtained legally, held legally, and is covered by valid CITES documentation will be exported.

4. Hong Kong will be able to export its ivory to the approximately

70 countries which are not parties to CITES, including South Korea,

and to China, which is a CITES party but which is one of 7 countries

which have entered a Reservation (the others are the UK, Zambia,

Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana, and Malawi). Hong Kong have told

us that they will not issue export licences for exports to countries

which have implemented the CITES ban. The State Department have

queried the issue of three export licences by Hong Kong for exports

to the FRG and Japan. The licences were issued before the CITES ban

formally came into force on 18 January, but were in any case not

used. We are sending full details to the US Embassy in London.

5. Secretary Baker may refer to US concerns about the conduct of

CITES Secretary General Eugene Lapointe, a French Canadian, and the

CITES Secretariat. Allegations of improper behaviour, in particular

the certification by the CITES Secretariat of poached ivory as legal

stock and of lobbying for continued trade in ivory, were raised at

the Lausanne conference in October 1989 by a number of NGOs

supported by the US and Canadian delegations. It was even alleged

that the CITES Secretariat had contributed to the decline in the

African elephant. On 22 January the US Embassy in London gave us a

copy of a Speaking Note which criticising Lapointe and calling for

his replacement. We believe the Note will be used with United

Nations Environment Programme Secretary General Tolba during a

meeting from 24-26 January (UNEP oversees CITES). We have taken the

view that while we understand the concerns about Lapointe and his

Secretariat we have no evidence of improper action which could support calls for his replacement, although we accept that his style of management is unhelpfully autocratic.

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