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industry was able to overcome its difficulties easily.
Mr Jordan accepted this point but said that in the case of the
United Kingdom's alignment to the Generalised Scheme of
Preferences of the European Economic Community no-one knew at
the time whether any particular action was going to prove
detrimental or not. Exclusion of Hong Kong's textiles and
footwear from the European Economic Community's Generalised
Scheme of Preferences came at a time of increasing competition
in the textile field and with rising prices. What really worried
Hong Kong manufacturers was the discrimination in favour of
countries unconnected with the Member countries of the European
Economic Community and against Hong Kong, a dependency of the
United Kingdom. He was afraid that there would be diversion of
trade towards countries who were given benefits under the
Generalised Scheme of Preferences.
There was evidence that this
had started to happen and it may continue.
3. Mr Jordan referred to his discussions in the Department of
Trade and Industry on 30 November when he had suggested that the
United Kingdom's negotiating brief on the question of Hong Kong's
exclusion of textiles and footwear should be worked out jointly
between Her Majesty's Government and the Hong Kong Government.
Both were agreed on the desirability of Hong Kong's full inclusion
but there were several possible fall back positions which Hong
Kong would prefer to a complete rejection of their case. Mr Royle
/agreed
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