TNAG-2617-FCO40-3808-Visit-by-Lord-Caithness--Minister-of-State-for-Foreign-and-C-1992 — Page 38

needs to maximise its commercial potential into the 21st

century. In the short term it also means the largest construction project anywhere in the world, which in itself has considerable growth potential for Hong Kong's economy. I am encouraged to see the way the Hong Kong Government are pushing ahead to complete projects as far as posssible

and that

by mid-1997. The Provisional Airport Authority is expanding rapidly to meet all its tasks, and the Airport Committee

under the JLG as well as the Airport Consultative Committee are functioning well. The Chinese are giving the

co-operation they promised.

I am happy to say that UK companies have already secured

many consultancies for these projects. Now the big works contracts will soon be awarded. British companies, with excellent reputations in the fields involved, are centrally

involved, with the British Government's active support, in an effort so ably led by Peter Heap. We are taking the closest interest in how things are going. Of course we realise the importance of making adequate credit cover

available. The opportunities for British business are

massive.

Vietnamese Migrants

With that same eye on stability and prosperity, we have been

working very hard to try to resolve the Vietnamese Migrant

problem, and with some considerable success. I was

5 of course, shocked and saddened by the outbreak of violence in Shek Kong. It was a grim reminder of what the tensions and

unhappinesses of life in these camps can lead to, and a reminder of the importance of solving this problem as soon

as we can.

Very encouraging that arrivals are dramatically down, and that return are therefore chipping away at camp populations.

I went to Hanoi last month to try to speed up

the discussion over implementation of the Orderly

JM1ABU/6

SLM