14
Thursday, March 15, 1973
HONG KONG'S OVERSEAS TRADE PROSPECTS
Mr. Williams Is Not Pessimistic
Mr. P.G. Williams was not pessimistic about Hong Kong's overseas
trading prospects despite some clouds of concern.
The intractable attitude of France and the revised quota arrangements
with West Germany were problems in the E.E.C. which now takes one third
of our domestic export.
He hoped ways could be found to develop channels of more direct
representation of Hong Kong's interests with E.E.C. countries.
Mr. Williams was speaking at the annual budget debate in the
Legislative Council today.
Exports to Japan had declined and the bitter reaction every-there
to this country's extremely selfish trading policies could not be in
Japan's long term interest, he said.
Japan must be urged to return some of the favours she has enjoyed
from Hong Kong for so long.
Other markets are opening up and he believes the Financial Secretary's predictions of our exports and imports in 1973 would be near the mark.
Whilst much has been said about crime recently, not much attention
had been paid to what happened to the criminal when he went to prison and
later came out of it.
We have