TNAG-2661-FCO40-3857-Future-of-Hong-Kong-British-Consulate-General-1992 — Page 144

CONFIDENTIAL

Afternoon session

It

The afternoon session was also attended by Messrs Brown, Smith, Whittle and Newey from OED but not by Mr Pugh. dealt with the specific points referred to in BTC telegram numbers 198 and 200.

The conclusions (in the order of the points set out in those telegrams) were as follows.

Points from BTC telno 198

Para 3a: questions

i

ideal establishment of the Consulate-General: discussed during the morning session;

ii assumptions about the future of the JLG: discussed during the morning session. We confirmed that the establishment set out in the schedule of requirements reflected the planning assumption that after 1997 the jobs of Consul General and Senior Representative to JLG will be merged. We recognised that from occupation of the building until 1997-8, that would be a period when there would be two Heads of Mission co-located.

iii current draft programme for recruiting and training core staff and assuming functions for the new Consulate-General. We agreed that Mr Day would develop proposals for recruiting and training key LE staff in the first place. We would give Mr Day the current draft of the HKD paper on building up the staffing of the BTC over the next five years. On the arrangements for moving into the new Consulate-General building, we noted that it would probably be necessary for the BTC to move as a whole into the new building once it was ready. The British Council and UKREP JLG would then move into the building as soon as convenient. The issue of when responsiblity for immigration and passport matters would pass from HKG to the BTC/BCG was still under discussion. iv co-ordination at the London/Hong Kong ends. It was agreed that: the Steering Committee would retain overall responsibility for co-ordination of the project; and Mr Day would be responsible for co-ordinating views among the British missions in Hong Kong. He would involve a representative of the Political Advisers office and keep the Governor generally informed. Mr Day's normal point of contact on these matters would be the Project Co-ordinator in HKD (John Morris) who would feed views into the Steering Committee and ensure that Mr Day was kept informed of Steering Committee decisions. Responsibility for implementing the Steering Committee's decisions on the building, and for dealing with the consultant project managers and the architects, would rest with OED's project sponsor (Mr Smith), and project manager (Mr Newey).

V

co-ordination in Hong Kong: covered at iv above; vi co-ordination of building programme with progess on developing agreed objectives for the BTC: it was agreed that the Steering Committe would be responsible for ensuring overall co-ordination. The next steps once Ministerial

BE2ABA JRB

CONFIDENTIAL