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and other products, in many other developing countries both in this region and in West Africa.
20. On the G A T T negotiations, in reply to a question on what the pro- spects were and what Hong Kong had to offer, Mr Denman said that the main objective must first be to get negotiations started with an intention to move towards a further liberalisation of trade and to prevent any slide back into the less liberal attitudes which could develop from, for example, the present economic pressures on USA or the strained relations between USA and France. Hong Kong had virtually nothing to trade in exchange for benefits from the developed markets and must, therefore, look mainly for a general lowering of barriers in world trade as a whole.
21.
At the conclusion of the meeting Mr Williams referred to the loss of revenue which the Chamber of Commerce was suffering as a result of the requirement that in order to qualify for preference under the G S P scheme Certificates of Origin have to be signed by a Government body and are not acceptable from a Chamber of Commerce. He said that the Chamber would greatly appreciate anything that could be done to modify this requirement. It was agreed that the Chamber would provide a note on the subject for Mr Denman to arrange for further consideration to be given to the possibility of achieving some modification of this requirement (the note was subsequently delivered direct to Mr Denman).
The Aven
T W Aston
Senior British Trade Commissioner
1
Miss M J Lackey OBE,
Branch 3, CRE2, DTI, London SW1H OET
Mr J F J Jarine,
Branch 1, Europe, Industry & Technology Division, DTI, London SW1H OET
Mr A Stuart,
HKI OD, FCO, London SW1
G Finlayson, Export Promotion Division,
FCO, London SW1
Mr M B Butler
Europe Integration Department
FCO, London SW1
Mr R M Allott, Branch 1, CRF1, DTI, London SW1 OET
13 Sept 1973
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