TNAG-2612-FCO40-3803-International-support-from-European-countries-regarding-the--1992 — Page 23

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PRESIDENCY BILATERAL WITH THE SWEDISH POLITICAL DIRECTOR:

WEDNESDAY 16 SEPTEMBER

Background

1.

Trade relations between Hong Kong and Sweden date back to

the settlement of Swedish businessman Arthur Nilsson in Hong

Kong in the 1880s. In 1991, Sweden was Hong Kong's ninth

largest trading partner in Europe, and the second in EFTA after Switzerland. Hong Kong's imports from Sweden totalled HK $1.6 bn (mostly mechanical products, machinery and

transport equipment, paper products and telecoms equipment).

Hong Kong's exports to Sweden in 1991 were HK $1.8 bn.

2. Hong Kong is also an important entrepot for Sino-Swedish

trade and some 130 Swedish companies have branches or subsidiaries in Hong Kong.

3.

Confidence in Hong Kong has recovered significantly since the events of June 1989 in Tiananmen Square. Applications

in 1992 from Hong Kong people seeking to emigrate were

significantly down for the first time since 1989.

4.

Unlike some countries, Sweden has not taken special steps

to give right of abode to certain Hong Kong people in order to anchor them in Hong Kong. But their assistance would be welcome in emphasising, in their contacts with China, the

importance the international community attaches to the

success of the Joint Declaration.

pres.bck.NIG

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