TNAG-2617-FCO40-3808-Visit-by-Lord-Caithness--Minister-of-State-for-Foreign-and-C-1992 — Page 39

Repatriation Programme.

have

And we here also worked hard on

UNHCR and the UK Commission. Part of the problem is the

cost of absorbing the migrants back into Vietnam, and the

UK

has pledged £3 million towards an important international programme to reintegrate into the local communities in

Vietnam those who volunteered to return. This is over and above

our share of the European Community's contribution. The unlying objective remains to empty the Hong Kong camps in three year.

I cannot offer guarantees, but I am

hopeful.

LegCo

Since

I should just say a few words about the new Legco.

the elections last September, a majority of the Council,

nearly two-thirds, is now elected. We welcome the fact that

political debate has become more lively! It is right that

legislation should be scrutinised, policies probéd. Douglas Hurd and I have seen a number of Legço

representatives in London, and I look forward to meeting all the group individually while I am here. Inevitably, there are differences. As with every new and exciting development, it will take some time to settle down.

But I

am struck not so much by the disagreements, but by the large

degree of consensus on

st of the central economic

questions. I am sure everyone will want to see a

constructive partnership between the Hong Kong Government

and LegCo. At present they are still evolving new ways of working together. But, as Sir David Ford has rightly

pointed out, the actual business of the Hong Kong Government

has not suffered under the new LegCo. The Hong Kong Government is getting on with government business in the way that it always does, and that provides the right

backdrop for Hong Kong itself to get on with the business of Hong Kong and that is business!

Conclusior

So, as I hope you will have gathered by now, I remain very

bullish about Hong Kong and about prospects for British

JM1ABU/7