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Tuesday, December 11, 1973
He welcomed the recent decision by the Japanese authorities to
reduce the Hong Kong exceptions list to their generalised preferences from
96 items to 12, but expressed concern over the exclusion in 1974 of Hong
Kong's textile and footwear from the EEC's preference scheme.
"Since our textiles are already heavily restricted to that market
by quotas, and since our footwear industry is relatively small and not
particularly competitive by world standards, we can see absolutely no
justification for this discriminatory treatment by the Community," he said.
Sir Murray noted, however, that the British Government had given
notice to the Community of its intention to seek cancellation of these
exclusions in 1975.
The Hong Kong Government was also participating in the negotiations
in Geneva of a new multilateral arrangement for textiles of all fibres,
and Hong Kong's knowledge and expertise in this complex field "ensures that
the views of our representatives are listened to with respect," he added.
Note to Editors:
Copies of the full text of the Governor's
speech are distributed separately as a supplement
to today's D.I.B.
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