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did this and subsequently had to remove all items in which
Commonwealth lde's make representations our offer would be
reduced even further. This may be so and if MAFF raise strong
objections I do not feel that we should labour the point.
Novertheless, I feel that we should inject a note of caution
and urge the MAFF and the Board of Trade to look again at the
lists to see whether any other items of major trade interest
to the old Commonwealth can be removed without reducing the
offer to negligible proportions.
Commonwealth Consultation.
10. We fully support the Board of Trade view that we should
begin consultations with the 'old' Commonwealth as soon as
possible. MAPF have previously argued that we should hold up
consultations until one week before the final OECD discussions
which are due to start on 24 September. Our view is that we
should start consultations as soon as possible and at least
offer concessions where we are able in the hope that they will
then be more willing to waive their contractual rights on other
items in our list which are of less interest to them.
We are
fully committed to Commonwealth consultations and we run the
risk of incurring the odium of the 'old' Commonwealth if we
merely present them with a revised list and do not give them
realistic period in which to comment and negotiate. MAPP wil1
probably argue that our aim should be to present excessive
depredation of our offer before it appears in OECD.
Our
argument is that the scope of our revised offer is defensible
within OECD in terms of value when compared with other offers
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/and