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take no for an answer.
It was therefore still necessary to
consider how the question of Hong Kong should be handled in
negotiations, so that the British Government could be ready, if
necessary at short notice, with a negotiating position.
3. An important development was that the European Commission's
report on our application was now available. In general the
Commission's thinking on Commonwealth problems appeared to be
objective. It had recommended that there should be one single
transitional period for all entrants and that a strict parallelism
should be maintained between transitional arrangements in the
agricultural and industrial sectors. It contained only one
specific reference to Hong Kong which was that imports from the
territory would present a special problem.
But it might also be
inferred from certain passages on intra-Community trade and the
application of the Common Customs Tariff that the Commission
seemed to think that the Community would need to seek special
arrangements in their own favour on textiles.
4. After a programme for the rest of the talks had been agreed,
Sir A. Snelling suggested that the present meeting should
continue with a general review of Hong Kong's problems.
Transitional Arrangements for Exports from Hong Kong
5. In answer to a question from Fr. Cowperthwaite, Sir Arthur
Snelling said that the British Delegation could not add to
what they had said on this subject in July since no Ministerial
decision had been taken on the general question of transitional
periods. The Commission's report did not indicate how long a
transitional period they thought appropriate. He understood,
however, that a period of five years had been spoken of in
Brussels.
Cotton Textiles
6.
Mr. Cowperthwaite said that in this sector, freedom from
quantitative restriction was more important than the level of
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/the