RESTRICTED
BY BAG
SAVING TELEGRAM
FROM UKMIS GENEVA TO FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE
No. 63 Saving
5 May, 1969
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го
R&PA. Profinance
File
NEUTRAL
Addressed to FCO telegram No. 63 Saving or 5 May, 1969
Repeated for information to:
RECEIVED IN
UKDEL OECD Faris UKDEL EEC Brussels
REGISTRY No.51
Washington
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HIL16/12
UNCTAD: Special Committee on Freferences
Kemmis (U.K.) was elected Vice-Chairman instead of Goldsmith; Alula (Ethiopia) instead of Adebanjo (Nigeria) who is now on the Secretariat; and Fischbach (Luxembourg) instead of Ponti (Italy) as part of an agreed EBC rotation. 2. The session met to "consider progress made" and to "reach agreement" on the mechanics for handling detailed intensive consultations" with the developing countries at the 3rd Session, as had been agreed at the 1st Session in December, Since then, however, the OECD timetable had slipped, in that a number of prospective preference giving countries, including the United States, had not tabled the illustrative lists which were called for on 1 March. There was, therefore, little to report in the way of progress; and it had been decided in the OFCD Ad Hoc Group (UKDEL OECD telegram No. 25 Saving) that it would be premature to establish any working groups of the kind envisaged by the developing countries and proposed by the UNCTAD Secretariat in document TD/B/AC5/11, with the exception of one group to discuss technical aspects of rules of origin. That, in these circumstances, the meeting lasted until late in the evening of the final day reflects the inefficiency of the working methods of UNCTAD; the final result, however, was satisfactory to Group B.
Progress Report
3. Reed (Norway) made an agreed statement on behalf of Group B which was inevitably unstisfactory to the developing countries in that the Americans were unable to agree to a reaffirmation of commitment even to the principles (as opposed to the calendar) of Conference Resolution 21(II). A number of Group B countries, including the United Kingdom, made supplementary statements which included the desired reaffirmations of "political will";
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