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respective British ambassadors and then followed up by Hong Kong officials. It was agreed after discussion that the wording of the memorandum should be examined that afternoon by a sub-group from each side and that the method and timing of its delivery would be decided on when the drafting of Britain's proposals concerning renegot fation was nearing completion.
HONG KONG'S TEXTILE AGREEMENTS
Mr Jordan said they were well on the way to achieving Community-wide consent to Hong Kong's proposals for the interim arrangements to cover the period from the beginning of 1974 until the prospective negotiation is completed. Mr Jordan again warned that Hong Kong would adopt a more inflexible line in negotiating with the Community than they had done over the last agreement. Miss Lowne explained that the Community negotiating position should be less illiberal than before because of the pressure exerted by Britain and Germany.
5 COTTON YARN
Miss Lowne informed the Hong Kong team that a submission to Ministers would soon he made to seek the new Government's approval for significant increases in quotas in 1974 and a continuation in 1975/76 of the policy of progressive liberalisation.
6 BRITAIN'S IMAGE IN HONG KONG
It was agreed that more should be done to keep the Hong Kong Government informed of issues affecting the territory which were being discussed in Britain and the other EXC states. This would enable the Hong Kong Government to be more forthcoming in statements to industrialists and others and would also help counteract the bad image Britain presently had in Hong Kong for seeming to do little for the territory's interests in Europe. It would have been helpful, for instance, if the Hong Kong Government could have been briefed at the time the UK knitwear industry's case for protection was rejected by HMG. More material should be sent to Mr Jordan together with advice on how much of the material already in Hong Kong could be used.
Circulation:
All those from Whitehall present at the meeting BTC Hong Kong
British Embassy, Tokyo (last sentence of Section 2)
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