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Bailey bridges in Indonesia and a £300 million project to construct a water purification plant for industrial application also in Indonesia; development of the Natuna oil field with Exxon in Malaysia and setting up a rapid transit system in Bangkok with Hopewell (Hong Kong). As Mr Bateson put it all in all South East Asia is the most exciting marketplace in the world.
4.
Mr Bateson expressed the concern felt by AMEC and other British companies at the apparent lack of sympathy with which projects in Malaysia and Indonesia are viewed by the ECGD. As the examples he had given showed the export potential in these countries is significant and British companies needed to know what Government support is available should it be required. Mr Bateson said that the experience in Turkey had demonstrated what can be done when they have proper Government support. He had the impression that Indonesia in particular was treated unfavourably and mentioned a recent call by some Indonesians at the DTI where they had, apparently been given the cold shoulder. We did not compare well with some of our continental rivals, particularly the French, Spanish and Italians, who gave much more assistance to their nationals. He appreciated that there were international guidelines on the amount of assistance that Governments can give but somehow other countries always managed to bend the rules. He also asked whether there was any possibility of support for contracts with Taiwan. He questioned whether we could afford not to have them on our support list.
5. Before he left Mr Bateson praised the support and help they received in Kuwait particularly from Michael Weston. Despite newspaper reports to the contrary their company was picking up a lot of business there and they were looking forward to some very large contracts.
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Ian Ruff
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WAPS/Lord Caithness
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