Keith Mallen by email:

[FOI #28237 email]

23 March 2010

Dear Mr Mallen,

YOUR FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST: 0184-10

Thank you for your request for information which we received on 22 February 2010. I can confirm that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office does hold information falling within the terms of your request.

The FOI Act obliges us to respond to requests promptly, and in any case no later than 20

working days after receiving your request. However, when a qualified exemption applies to

the information and the public interest test is engaged, the Act allows the time for response

to be longer than 20 working days, and a full response must be provided within such time as

is reasonable in all circumstances of the case. We do, of course, aim to make all decisions

within 20 working days, including in cases where we need to consider where the public

interest lies in respect of a request for exempt information. In this case, however, we have

not yet reached a decision on where the balance of the public interest lies.

In your case we estimate that it will take an additional 20 working days to take a decision on where the balance of the public interest lies. Therefore, we plan to let you have a response by 22 April 2010. If it appears that it will take longer than this to reach a conclusion, we will keep you informed.

The specific exemption which applies in relation to your request is: Section 43 Commercial Interests.

Yours sincerely,

P.Hopkins

Patrick Hopkins

Deputy Open Government Liaison Officer

Far Eastern Group

Far Eastern Group

Asia and Pacific Directorate

King Charles Street

London

SW1A 2AH

Email: [email address]

www.fco.gov.uk