PERSONAL & CONFIDENTIAL
Mr David Jordan MBE JP
Director, Commerce and Industry Firo Brigade Building Government of Hong Kong HONG KONG
12 March 1974
(34)
I was grateful for your reply to my telegram but have since heard that there was a transcription error such that you thought the Butoirs were to be reduced by 10% where as the proposition was that they should be reduced to 10% for very competitive countries in respect of particular products.
Since I telegraphed we have had more indications of what the Commie- gion has in mind. Essentially there might be a single list of sensitive and/or semi-sensitive goods. Restrictive Butoirs would be applied to the most competitive countries and not to others. The effect of this, from the point of view of the Commission, would of course be to increase the appeal of their general preferences scheme as a means of helping the less developed among the developing countries but of course at the expense of those better able to compete.
It would be helpful to have your reaction. The GSP is of course one of the things the new Administration here will want to look at care- fully and my guess is that because of their interest in development matters they are likely to be attracted by a scheme which appears to do good to the poorer countries. This is a reason why I think it more useful to keep this correspondence on a personal basis.
Once again it would be helpful to have your view as soon as you can manage and before anything "gels" here.
M P LAM
co Mr Stuart←
Mr Edwards
PERSONAL & CONFIDENTIAL