CONFIDENTIAL
GVA/10/8/1
294
$28
1327
10 November x70
282
UNCTAD Special Committee on Preferences
Thank you very much for your letter of 27 October commenting on certain points in my memoranda Nos.141 and 143.
2. It is useful to have points like this drawn to one's attention and clarified and I am grateful that you have taken the trouble to do so. As you know, this last meeting of the Special Committee was a particularly difficult one to report on, not just because it was long though that produced its difficulties), but also because it operated on a number of different planes. In consequence, it was not easy for me to keep tabs on everything that was happening, me you probably understand.
3. It now seems likely that the big Hong Kong round-up in London will start on 23 November and I gather that this will clash with the next meeting of the OECD Ad Hoc Group. It is probable that I will have to go to the London talks, in which case I will unavoidably miss the Paris meeting. However, I trust that, true to its form during its last few meetings, the Ad Hoc Group will not discuss the question of beneficiaries but will leave that to the Trade Committee meeting at the end of the month (which I hope to attend). By then the London talks on Hong Kong, at which the GPS will be an important item on the agenda, should have been held and I hope that this will be helpful to Martin Lan.
4. At this stage, I do not wish to go too deeply into tactics in advance of the London talks. But recent developments in our bilateral contacta on the Hong Kong problem in Brussels, Washington and Tokyo have led me to feel that we should continue to hold off trying to force the issue of Hong Kong at this particular meeting of the Trade Committee. The latest information from Washington seems to show that a high level decision has probably been taken to exclude Hong Kong, unlese the EEC and Japan decide to include her. In the case of the EEC, however, it seems clear that the Community will not be ready to talk to us about Hong Kong in the context of the enlargement negotiations before sometime in December at the earliest; and the dialogue is also still continuing with the Japanese. ith the U.S., as well, we have still
/to play
0.H. Komnis, Esq.,
Department of Trade and Industry.
CONFIDENTIAL