129
T.: Director of Commerce and Industry, Hong Kong.
From: Counsellor (Hong Kong Affairs), Geneva.
Memorandum No. 106/69
File No. GVA/10/8/1
Date: 27 October 1969
My memorandum No. 104 of 20 October 1969.
O.E.C.D.
Ad Hoc Working Group on Preferences
With reference to paragraphs 6 and 7 of my memorandum under reference I enclose a copy of a letter dated 20 Oct⚫ber from Kemmis to Britten (FCO).
2.
This has drawn my attention to the fact that I failed to mention in my previous memorandum that the EEC asked that square brackets be put round the whole of the paragraph en Beneficiaries on the grounds that the Community had n、t decided their position on this issue (paragraph 4 of Kemmis' letter). This does not, however, alter very much the practical position at the forthcoming meeting of the OECD Trade Committee on 6/7 November where I am sure that the main argument will centre round the words "in general".
3. I also understand that the EEC Council of Ministers failed to agree at their last meeting on the form of the Community's submission on preferences, due ostensibly to legal difficulties on the part of the Belgians. Whether this will affect the EEC attitude on the tabling of their submission with the UNCTAD Secretariat by 15 November, and consequently the line they will take at the next meeting of the Ad Hoc Group and at the Trade Committee, will presumably depend on whether the difficulty can be resolved in time. I should imagine that it will be.
DJCJ/mms
Distribution:
Director, Hong Kong (3 copies) A.L.; A.B.; A.V.
Mr. Goldsmith
th) Board of Trade
Mr.
Kemmis
Mr. Carter, C.V.O., Hong Kong Dept., FCO without
Mr. Fall, UKMIS, Geneva. Mr. Muir, UKDEL OECD, Paris Mr. Hannay, UKDEL to EEC,
Brussels.
enclosures