GOVERNOR Chris Patten is planning a keynote speech, stressing the importance Hong Kong places on renewal of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status for China.
Mr Patten will deliver the speech on April 21, the eve of Chief Secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang's high-profile lobbying visit to the United States.
He spent much of yesterday discussing the prospects for renewal with the head of the Far East department of the Foreign Office, Christopher Hum, and the new head of the Hong Kong department, Sherard Cowper-Coles.
The Foreign Office view is that it is too early to tell whether MFN will be renewed.
''Nobody is taking anything for granted,'' one source said.
In his speech to the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, Mr Patten will outline the cost to the territory in jobs and trade if MFN is not renewed.