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CONFIDENTIAL #5
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Summary of the Hong Kong Government's Memorandum "Renegotiation of the EEC/ Hong Kong Textiles Agreement :
Consequences of EEC policies as they are apparently developing
The Textiles Agreement between the EEC and
Hong Kong expires on 31st December. It appears that in drafting the mandate for the negotiations leading to a new agreement the EEC Commission will anticipate Member States sceking substantial cut-backs in exports from Hong Kong and certain other major suppliers in order to give other exporting countries greater access to the
markets of the EEC.
2.
The EEC's Special Representative for Textiles
Negotiations has indicated in informal talks that for
Hong Kong this would involve significant reduction of
the 1977 quota limits for 7 items of particular
significance for Hong Kong. During the currency of the new agreement, the opportunity for increasing exports of
these items would be severely limited and the normal
flexibility provisions (i.e. the possibility of counting
exports in one item against exports in another
underutilised item) would not be included.
3.
The significance of these items for Hong Kong “
is that in the last five years they have accounted for
between 59% and 62% of exports of textiles and clothing
to the EEC and 11% to 12% of overall global domestic
exports. In terms of goods actually exported in the 7 items in 1976 (the latest year for which we have full
/statistics
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