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Hong Kong would have rights and obligations under the G.A.T.T.
towards a Community enlarged by the addition of Britain, It
was agreed to return to this at a later session.
Cotton Textiles
13. Mr. Haddon-Cave said that Hong Kong was not worried about
having to face the c.e.t. in Britain. This should not affect
the volume of sales, though it might affect their profitability.
But Hong Kong was concerned about the possibility of stricter
quantitative limitations on her exports of cotton textiles to
Britain. The Community was now developing a common policy for
the import of cotton textiles from low-cost sources, By 1970
Hong Kong expected to have a single bilateral agreement with the Community under the G.A.T.T. Long-Term Arrangement instead
of different ones with each of the Member States. The more
liberal Member States of the Community were already under
pressure to become more restrictive. Britain, which was more
liberal than any of the Six, would probably have to move in the
same direction. He recognised that this was not an issue which
could be raised in pre-entry negotiations since, in the absence of
a common Community policy, there was nothing to negotiate about. Possible Arrangements for Hong Kong
Association under Part IV of the Rome Treaty
14. Sir A. Snelling said that when he was in Hong Kong earlier
in the year he had formed the impression that Hong Kong would
want Britain to seek Association for her, if only for public
relations purposes. Britain saw little to be gained by this.
Mr. Haddon-Cave said that support for Association was prevalent
among the British mercantile houses rather than among the Chinese business community. There were no new arguments in favour of Assoication beyond those put forward and rejected in 1962. He did not think that either the Hong Kong Government
or the non-official trading associations would wish to advocate
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