SIR CHRISTOPHER SOAMES......."Very useful talks.'
"
No assurance
from the EEC
EEC has
little to
offer for textiles
t
"
When it was pointed out that countries like South Korea enjoyed preference for their textiles and footwear, he replied indirectly that 'a lot of Hongkong textiles already go into the UK" and also that the Colony ranked second among the many countries benefiting from the EEC's preference scheme.
According to Sir Christopher, the GATT negotiations to be continued after the ministerial meeting in Tokyo, which will only issue a declaration of purpose, will hinge on two main aspects:
The reduction of trade tariff barriers among the industrialised countries of the world; and the introduction favourable preference treatment to, the developing nations so that they. can trade more with the developed world.
a
The preferences to the poorer nations would include a quantative increase in the lowered tariffs and also qualitative increase in the lowered tariffs and also a qualitative increase in that efforts will be made to include more number of items in the preference schemes, he added.
Sir Christopher stuck to the Common Market's contention that international monetary reforms
were
the vital to eventual success of the GATT talks.
Without a stable currency exchange system in the long run, it would futile to try to arrive at any understanding on the quantum of decreases in tariff barriers, he added.
Although world trade has increased by an annual rate of 25 per cent in the first quarter of this year in spite of the chaotic monetary situation, he maintained that monetary system must be sorted out in order to progress the GATT talks meaningfully.
SIR CHRISTOPHER Soames, Commissioner of the European Economic Community, said the EEC had very little to offer by way of hope to Hongkong's trading relations with the Common Market.
Sir Christopher said yesterday that he had very "useful talks" with government officials and the members of the Executive and Legislative Councils before flying to Tokyo for the GATT ministerial meeting.
Informed sources revealed that Hongkong's exclusion from the EEC's Generalised Preference Scheme (GPS) as it refers to the textiles, the Colony's largest export earner, did figure “in a general way" but no assurance was forthcoming from the Common Market Commissioner.
Asked why Hongkong textiles and footwear were subject to such an unfair deal from the EEC, Sir Christopher commented that this was part of the agreement when Britain joined the Common Market.
Local industry sources had all along been saying that Britain had neglected Hongkong's interests regarding textiles. This was the first remark on such reports from a responsible Common Market official.