13 JUL '92
18:09 DTI OT2-2. 071 215 4701
4
Page 4 8 June 1992
P.4/E
The Competition
16. We are working up a short paper on the role the Japanese envisage for Hong Kong and I hope you will meet their Consul General, a heavyweight who was PS to the Japanese Prime Minister. The American Chamber is also worth studying as it i highly effective (although in other respects the Americans at sixes and sevens). Our European partners are doing well (especially the Germans, Italians and French) but of course they target sectors in which they have strength.
Our own position is being reinforced by increasingly complex tie-ups with foreign partners.
Backing Winners
17. We are drafting a list of the UK market leaders in each sector and the lessons to be learned from each. They should have first call on our support: that is the best way of helping the rest.
The Need for an Economist
18.
You may wish to bring an economist with you. Underlying everything are assessments of where we stand (and such assessments as I have seen vary wildly
-
do we earn £1 billion or £2 billion annually from invisibles in Hong Kong?); the durability of the "South China miracle" (in particular the extent to which it is based on land speculation); the emerging pattern of intra-regional trade; the Japanese trends; Hong Kong's prospects as services capital (eg vis-a-vis Singapore) and in which areas, etc. Such analyses must underlie the choic of our target and we should be wary of hype. There are figures available, though some are ancient, and the bankers (especially Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank and Schroders) will help.
Resources
19.
2
Once we know our aims we can seek a better use of our resources. HMG spends a great deal of money here but the pattern is unsatisfactory - eg £1/1⁄2 million sunk into my flat (not very British, so far as I can see) but the South China miracle will be covered for the summer by 1 x LE1 of 1 year's experience.
General
20. It would greatly help me if you would nominate one person with whom we can deal and who can stitch in the interests and views of the different parts of DTI and BOTB. He should not be
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.