2. On the contrary, we believe that the result of forming
such a link could well be that no GSP improvements at all
(And,
—it
for Hong Kong would be agreed, not even on footwear it could lead to
ht be growing support for the Dutch view that the so-called
super-competitive suppliers should not receive GSP benefits,
t
and/a considerable erosion of what sympathy there is in the
Community for Hong Kong's position. The representations
made in Community capitals just before the summer break
would have been to ho avail.
3. We agree that the Community's GSP discussions are not
looking as good as they might from the Hong Kong point of
view and that Tran. has not helped by the line (which was
entirely personal) which he took with Dodge recently.
(Brussels' telegram No 61 to you). But much ground has
still to be covered before final decisions are taken.
At the end of the day we consider that there is a good
chance that the Commission's proposals on footwear for
Hong Kong will be agreed, or at least a substantial pert
of them, and we do not exclude the possibility that some
Mamsen non-sensitive items in the textiles field will also
be agreed. Moreoever, the Community is still a long way
from agreeing the Commission's proposals for the super-
competitive countries. There may, however, be a need to
go along with special butoir arrangements for the super
/competitive
....
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