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circles at the delay in announcing its terms. This is due
to minor technical difficulties faced by the United States
Authorities which have so far delayed the formal signing.
I now expect this to take place very soon. At this stage
all I can say is that the agreement, while more restrictive
than the current one, contains some features which
counterbalance the negative ones. Overall growth rates in
the first year will be. low but will increase substantially
in later years. For some sensitive categories the specific
growth rates will be low throughout; but almost without
exception higher than those I have already mentioned as
being in our current agreement with the EEC.
I am sorry I cannot be more specific at this stage.
I was, however, able to announce at the start of this week
a bridging arrangement to cover the period between the
expiry of the present Hong Kong/US agreement on 30 September
and the start of the new one on 1 January 1978. This has
removed some of the immediate problems faced by the trade
due to uncertainties.
Now, sir, I turn, as requested by Mr. Tien, to
the umbrella under which all this activity does, or rather
should, take place. I refer to the GATT Multi-Fibre Arrangement.
The MFA was negotiated in 1973 to run for a
four year period ending on 31 December 1977. The fifty
or so participating countries which form the GATT Textiles
Committee have been meeting over the past few months to
consider, as it is put in the MFA itself, whether the
Arrangement should be extended, modified or discontinued.
/There