Copied from (56)2 in IMM/CR 1/2926
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
DUNAAX
Miss Cherry Ling See 8/11
General Duties Branch Government Secretariat
HONG KONG
Send yo6.
IM
270 2657
Telephone 01-
Your reference
Our reference
Date
31 October 1989
rec'd on
8/11 189.
Dear Chary,
1
JOINT DECLARATION : POST RATIFICATION ACTION CHECKLIST
1.
In your letter to Chris Wood 20 June you sent us a copy of your 9th edition of the Joint Declaration Checklist. I am sorry that we did not comment earlier and I hope that the following may be of some assistance
2.
One area I think we should look at again is the subject of changes affecting the general public as a whole. We should aim to spread any changes in, say, street names, design of coins and postage stamps, and public holidays, as widely as possible over the next eight years. We must avoid a situation which changes in the trivial but familiar details of daily life are packed into the 1995-97 peirod, with a cumulative effect on public consciousness out of all proportion to their real importance.
5.
When I visited Hong Kong on familiarisation, Alan Carter and Lawrence Leung of the Immigration Department mentioned that they were keen to embark on negotiations for Visa Abolition Agreements for BN (O) passports (Right of Abode etc Section (e)). It would seem that this is potentially a major area of work. Has HKG's policy paper on this subject yet been finalised? would want to consult the Chinese, negotiate a few sample VAAS and build up experience of these negotiations before embarking on the subject of VAAS for SAR passport holders (Right of Abode etc
Section (g)).
Presumably we
6. The checklist includes a number of these international negotiation programmes ie :
(e) Visa Abolition Agreements for BN (0) passports; and
(£)
Visa Abolition Agreements for SAR passports.
If the negotiations of ASAS is any precedent, these negotiation programmes could involve a substantial amount of work, the
eventual setting up of specialised units in HKG, and could take a lot longer than expected.
This argues in favour of starting as
soon as possible.
:
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.