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G.F. 323
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2
Encl. 1
3.
Mr. Nehmer introduced the U.S. delegation.
He recalled that he had already informed the H.K.
Government representatives present that the U.S.
delegation could not accept that the discussions should
be limited to consideration of problems arising from
imports of particular products but he welcomed the
opportunity to resume the earlier informal discussions
of the general situation provided in paragraph 13 of
the H.K. Government's Note of 8th October 1969 (Enclosure 1).
He said he would have several questions to raise regarding
the Note as no doubt would the U.K. and H.K. Government's
representatives on what he and his colleagues would have
to say during the course of the discussions. But first
he proposed to take each paragraph of the H.K. Government's
Note, comment on it and where possible up-date the figures
quoted in it.
4.
With regard to paragraph ↑ of the H.K. Government's
Note, imports of man made fibres in the year ending June
1969 represented 4.6% of consumption. This percentage
was based on fibre consumption by mills. It was noteworthy
that before 1968 imports had been 2% of consumption and
that at the time the L.T.A. was negotiated imports of
cotton textiles had represented 4.7% of production. It
was true that imports had moderated, in that total imports
in the first 8 months of 1969 were 27.5% above the level
/for
CONFIDENTIAL