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white washing exercise and we must accept that even in trade terms
it is bad also in that our future potential for trade has been
reduced in those categories where the bulk of our trade lies. In
other words, because 1977 was not a good year for Hong Kong's textile
exports to the Community, the immediate effect on trade is small,
but our export opportunities for the future, if and when demand
should revive, have been considerably reduced.
Nonetheless those long weary weeks in Brussels were not
wasted. The terms of the Agreement we brought home were a good
deal better than what the Community was originally seeking from us.
It might also provide a measure of sorts if I made a few
3 comparisons with the agreement negotiated with the United States last
July.
This
Included in the EEC's original demands were restraints
on fibres other than cotton, wool and man-made fibre, such as flax.
They started with about 140 categories and we finished up with 41
categories with specific limits and no overall limit and with the
restraints covering only cotton, wool and man-made fibre.
coverage is still wider than the present agreement with the Community,
which has only 24 categories, but it is a marked improvement on their
original proposals. It compares quite favourable on broad terms
with the 37 limits we have in the US Agreement, and that Agreement
includes an overall limit and individual group limits. The expansion
of 24 categories to 41 of course reduces the flexibility that our
manufacturers and traders enjoy under the present Agreement but even
so this still compares quite favourably with the US Agreement
/un
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