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عيد
His Excellency the Governor of Hong Kong gave a lánch an 14 September for the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, The Right Honourable Geoffrey Rippon. Also present were members of the Executive Council and the Hong Kong Government.
2.
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Among the subjects discussed were the following:-
(a) The effects on Hong Kong of British accession
to the EEC;
(6)
The future of the Sterling Agreements; and
(c) Hong Kong's trading relationship with Britain,
and third countries.
Mr Rippon was asked about the future of the Community's Generalised Preferences Scheme and Hong Kong's relationship to it. Thanks were expressed to HMG for the successful efforts to secure Hong Kong's inclusion in the Scheme. Mr Rippon emphasised that this was an important concession to Hong Kong. He said that detailed discussions on aligning the British scheme with that of the Six had not yet taken place. When they did, the bilateral preferences extended by Hong Kong to the UK would obviously be an important bargaining counter. Meanwhile there was no need for Hong Kong to generalise these to the rest of the Community. The point was made by Hong Kong representatives that in any alignment of the British GPS with that of the Six, it would be to Hong Kong's advantage if textiles were excluded altogether, as in the present British Scheme.
4. Mr Rippon was asked whether French restrictions on Hong Kong's imports would continue to be rigidly applied after our accession. Mr Rippon explained that the Community was moving towards a common commercial policy under which questions of restrictive practices would undoubtedly arise. He pointed out that without Britain in the Community there was no guarantee that other members of the Community would not adopt practices as restrictive as those of the French.
If,
5. The question of Hong Kong's future institutional relationship with the Community and the GATT was also raised. Mr Rippon said that it would be better for the present informal but efficient arrangements to continue. however, these proved impractical after accession some new machinery might need to be considered. Hong Kong's representation in Brussels should be maintained, but it would not be appropriate for this to form part of the British representation in the Community. On the GATT, Mr Rippon said that this was under review in London. Rippon also explained the details of the British representation in Brussels after enlargement although he emphasised that the actual appointments to the Commission would have to wait on the announcement of the Commissioners from each country.
Mr
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/Para 6....
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