The HK/EEC Textiles Agreement in Perspective
Speech by Mr. David Jordan, Director of Trade Industry and Customs, at the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce lunch, 9 January 1978
I am surprised to see so many of you here. My own
reaction would have been "Oh no, not Jordan on textiles again!"
When Jimmy McGregor told me how many of you were coming
it made me feel rather nervous. I've never spoken to such a large
audience before and I wondered whether I had much chance of satis-
fying such a large and knowledgeable audience that it had been
worth, coming to listen to this speech.
If not, of course, I've only myself to blame because I
suggested the subject myself, not as some people might reasonably
suspect, because it's the only one I know anything about, but
because I thought that now the dust has settled a little, I might
say a few final words on the subject in an effort to set the new
Agreement in perspective. In particular, I should like to explain
why "official sources", as they say, are making rather different
assessments today of the effects of the Agreement upon Hong Kong
than they were four or five months ago. I hope I don't need to
add that this is not intended as a white wash job, or to mix my
painting metaphors, a papering over of unpleasant cracks.
As you all know, the international multifibre textile
arrangement, the MFA, was drawn up in December 1973 to govern the
conduct of international trade in textiles from 1974 to 1977. At
the end of 1976, the Textiles Committee, which supervises the
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