TNAG-2967-FCO40-4246-Future-of-Hong-Kong-British-Consulate-General-inclusion-of--1993 — Page 75

28 May 1993

A. DISC-28.5 This text has been approved by DT1.

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Mr James Chiu

Chairman

The British Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong

Thank you for your letter of 27 May about the co-location of the offices of the British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong with the Consulate General when the new building is completed in 1996.

Both the FCO and the Department of Trade and Industry are keen that the British Chamber of Commerce should be included in the new Consulate General building if that can be arranged.

As you know there are some technical difficulties over the lease which we are currently looking at. You will also be pleased to learn that the architects have confirmed that they will be able to expand the area allocated to the Chamber's use from 107 to 200 sq m.

However I regret that there is no possibility of public money being used to give the Chamber rent-free space. For public expenditure reasons we shall need to charge the Chamber a fair rent. By 1997 we all hope and expect that the Chamber will have attracted a great number of new members which will bring in considerable additional funds. I find it hard to imagine therefore that charging the Chamber a fair rent will really cause it any economic difficulties or have a major impact on its plans for the future.

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NJH

ALASTAIR GOODLAD

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