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was to deal with Collin direct. you are next in Paris and have a
"Go and call on Collin when talk with him".
8. One final point is that Mlle. Guyot approached me one evening after an UNCTAD Preferences meeting. She said that she hoped I had seen the French notification to the GATT regarding the addition to their list of the two products restricted from Hong Kong. I replied that I had. She then went on to say that the Ministry of Finance and Lconomic Affairs saw the sense of trying to ease the restrictions on Hong Kong but that the Ministry of Industry, and especially the "technical scrvices" (no doubt their Industries I), were still very strongly opposed. There was also the present ec ́nomic difficulties involving the franc which did not help matters. I replied that I recognised that conflicting forces were involved but added that the atmosphere would be significantly eased if the two products could be liberalised. This could be a token that things were moving in the right direction. Mlle. Guyot said that she recognised this but that the Ministry of Industry had been very firm (dur) about these particular products. Mlle. Guyot is obviously more serious and straight forward about these matters than Colmant and therefore more of an "interlocuteur valable".
Other Notifications
9.
The other notifications against France produced no real fireworks. Malmgren (U.S.) said that his authorities were concerned about the long list of restrictions remaining in France, particularly on textiles, which they had taken good note of. He hoped that there would be more rapid liberalisation. The present position, not only in France, created considerable difficulties for the U.S. Administration in countering protectionist pressures in Congress.
10. There was then a long list of notifying countries drawing attention to their various notifications but not, for the most part, adding anything very much to what was written down. The Japanese said the restrictions against them were discriminatory. Colmant replied they were in a bilateral agreement. To the Japanese comment that the number of items of their industriel products restricted in France came to 41 Colmant replied that the notification was clear and that he could confirm that the figure of 41 was correct. Malmgren complained about discriminatory restrictions on U.S. wine. Colmant asked what Frenchman would want to drink American wines. In any case he refused to comment on the notifications on agricultural products which should be dealt with in the Agriculture Committee. To Brazilian complaints about quotas Celmant said that licences were issued on application but that very few had been aplied for. No-one asked him why, in that case, the products could not be liberalised. To Swedish and U.K. complaints about severe restrictions on pleasure boats Colmant went into a technical argument about what kinds of bcats were limited without answering the question. So it went on.
11.
I do not think that Colmant's rather cavalier performance.n this occasion went unnoticed. Luvten (Communities Commission) told me afterwards that other delegates from the Six had been annoyed with the arrogant and flippant way with which Colmant had dealt with the questioning and added that the Commission would do their best to see that the French did not get away with their bigger nonsenses for too much longer.
/Conclusion
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