Sir David Wilson GCMG
Governor of Hong Kong
CONFIDENTIAL
VISIT BY MR GUMMER: UK BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
Thank you for your letter of 7 October about Mr Gummer's visit and its useful attachment.
We do not know where Mr Gummer picked up the idea that there was some problem of bias in the award of airport consultancies or other contracts. We gave Mr Gummer a pretty comprehensive brief on the airport. This noted that many consultancy contracts had already been awarded to British
companies. It also made clear that the Hong Kong Government has a fair and open tender system and that you are committed to a level playing field. It did say that, if all other matters were equal, it should be possible for the Hong Kong Government to "think British" and pointed out that business and Parliament here would be disappointed if UK companies did not do well. It also mentioned a case where a failed British bid had been extremely uncompetitive.
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Our contacts in the DTI tell us that the major British players fully understand the position in Hong Kong that the British Government is not in the business of trying to twist the Hong Kong Government's arm but that we shall lobby vigorously in the normal way. As you say, such lobbying is understandable and a fact of life. When Ministers here see Giscard and Shultz lining up for competitors, they feel that they need to be seen to be batting for Britain. The assumption behind all such lobbying is that bids for this vast and complex project will not be awarded solely on the basis of arithmetical comparisons and that the Hong Kong authorities in assessing the credibility of the companies concerned will be attentive to the degree of support and commitment which they enjoy in their own countries and from their own Governments. It is also widely assumed that for a project of this scale the Hong Kong authorities will also be factoring into the equation the desirability of some degree of balance in overseas participation. Hong Kong needs powerful friends, and for key partner countries to have a substantial commercial stake in this project can only strengthen their political commitment to Hong Kong's continuing success.
CONFIDENTIAL
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