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Following are the details:
The most important improvement is one providing for a considerable reduction in the number of products where the preferential trade is subject to particular restrictions. This, along with an overall increase of the order of 15 per cent. in the trade which can benefit from the scheme, affords additional scope for all beneficiaries.
Other improvements, of particular interest to the Asian Commonwealth, represent a further step in the implement- ation of the Community's joint declaration of intent towards them. They cover the tariff treatment of jute and coir products, of particular interest to India and Bangladesh; a substantial increase in the tariff concessions for tobacco produced by India; an agreement in principle to include a range of tropical oils of interest to South-East Asian developing countries when the trade provisions of the new Convention of Association come into effect; an improved concession on plywood which will be of particular value to Malaysia; and there are a number of small additions to the coverage of the scheme in the agricultural sector.
One of the Government's objectives has been to improve the position of Hong Kong, against which we have to dis- criminate in the Community's Generalised Preference Scheme. It has been agreed that from next year Hong Kong will be included as a beneficiary for rubber and plastic footwear, which are her major interests in so far as footwear exports are concerned. The Community has also undertaken to look further next year at the question of the exclusion from the scheme of her textiles.