asked Her Majesty's Government:What progress was made at the recent Joint Liaison Group meeting in Peking and whether agreement was reached on the right of abode endorsement to be placed in BN(O) passports.

We are arranging for the text of the communiqué issued after the Joint Liaison Group meeting to be placed in the Library of both Houses. I am happy to say that the Chinese side agreed in principle that the wording of the endorsement should be as follows: "The holder of this passport has Hong Kong permanent identity card No. (XYZ) which states that the holder has the right of abode in Hong Kong". It is expected that formal agreement on this and other related matters will be reached at the next meeting of the Joint Liaison Group.