CONFIDENTIAL
LAST
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21 SFF 1988
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(193)
INDEX
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PRIME MINISTER
العلان
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PM/77/96
Multifibre Arrangement
1. Edmund Dell has been keeping you fully informed of progress in the negotiations ova the Multifibre Arrangement. The Commission proposals for conducting the bilateral
agreements under the multifibre arrangement have now been
presented to Member States. At first sight, they appear to provide the basis for ensuring that Community internal global import ceilings are applied to all low-cost suppliers, with extra stringency for the particularly
sensitive textile products.. I accept the paramount
importance of ensuring that these ceilings are applied...
However, the distribution of quotas to individual supplying
countries within these global ceilings does cause us some
difficulty.
!
2. The Commission's chief textile negotiator, Mr Tran,
has visited the main supplying countries to explain the
Commission proposals. The figures he suggested caused the
Hong Kong Government considerable concern. The figures for
Hong Kong's quotas under its new bilateral agreement with the Community would mean a considerable cutback for Hong Kong's exports to below the 1976. levels, at which the Community intends to stabilise its import penetration overall.
Mr Tran has since confirmed to us that cuts will be necessary
from Hong Kong as from the other dominant suppliers, South
Korea and Taiwan, in order to ensure that no cuts need to be
/applied to the
CONFIDENTIAL