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reasonable opportunities for exports including those from the
Commonwealth.
4. At the Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference in 1962,
the provisional agreement was criticised by the Canadians,
Australians and New Zealanders on the grounds that it was too
imprecise to afford them any assurances. They considered that
specific additional assurances on dairy products, meat and
sugar were essential.
The matter was not pursued before the
negotiations with the Six were suspended.
5.
For manufactured goods, it was agreed provisionally that
the common external tariff should be applied gradually in
three stages.
6. During the negotiations, we were told that the Six were
aware of the existence of the New Zealand problem and that they
were determined to join us in finding a solution. The French,
however, reserved their position on a special solution for New
Zealand.
7.
Because her exports consist mainly of temperate foodstuffs,
New Zealand cannot easily diversify her trade. Nevertheless,
she has made some progress on a limited scale by finding
outlets for mutton in Japan, lamb in Western Europe and dairy
products in South East Asia and the Far East. These efforts
have been supported by a vigorous publicity campaign and it is
clear that New Zealand is determined to become less dependent
on the British market.
8. New Zealand reactions to our recent approach to the E.E.C.
Mr. Marshall, the Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand, visited
the Community capitals in June, 1966. This tour was
successful in that Ministers in the Community countries all
agreed that New Zealand was a special case and that arrangements
to safeguard her interests would have to be worked out in any
negotiations leading to British membership of the Community.
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