BET EMB WASHINTON I
TUE 04 MAY 93 20:19
PG.11
CONFIDENTIAL
23. The Governor raised a final point on Vietnam, that Hong Kong had a close interest through its involvement with pointing out the boat people he hoped that economic relations between the US and Vietnam would normalise soon. The better the economy, the easier it would be for people to return home. Mr. Wharton said that recent revelations about MIAS had slowed progress on this front. It was difficult as yet to determine the true position but the President was very sensitive to the concerns of the families of the former POWs. The Vietnamese had been reasonably forthcoming on the issue but it was not clear whether there was more information still to come to light. Mr. Lord added that the issue of clearing up Vietnam's debts to multilateral bodies remained an important one. This had not been included on the agenda of the recent IMF/IBRD meeting which had just ended but that did not mean that the issue was indefinitely postponed. The US had been in touch with Japan, France, the UK and others on this. They hoped that a decision on arrears - which was a pre-requisite for new IMF/IBRD operations could be reached one way or another by this summer.
MJ Dinham
4 May 1993
(Personal covers)
CC.
HMA
Mr. Pattison Mr. Wiggham Mr. Ricketts Mr. Cox
British Embassy Washington
HKETO
HKD/FCO
B.E. Peking
CC CS
FS
SCA
STI (paras 1 to 15)
PA
UKREP JLG
PS/GH Hd/CPU
Mr. Llewellyn IC
CONFIDENTIAL
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