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Saturday, December 22, 1973
NEW MULTI-FIBRE TEXTILE AGREEMENT
Mr. Bill Dorward, Deputy Director of Commerce and Industry,
returned from Geneva last night after representing Hong Kong at talks by
member nations of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) to
establish a new multi-fibre textile agreement.
The new agreement will come into effect on January 1, 1974,
for a four-year period. It replaces the existing Cotton Textile Arrangement
which expires at the end of this year.
Commenting on the outcome, Mr. Dorward said that this represented
the culmination of nearly two years' work on the part of the countries
The main negotiations had been over the last eight months.
"If Hong Kong had its way," Mr. Dorward said, "there would be
concerned.
no such restraint arrangements on world trade in textiles. The choice
lay, however, between the rule of law in this vital sector and a situation
which some delegations in Geneva described as the law of the jungle.
11So we contributed our maximum efforts over the months to shaping
the new rules to our best advantage. I like to think we have succeeded in
many important respects. Certainly the new rules are much better for Hong
Kong than those under the 11-year-old Cotton Textiles Arrangement which
expires next week."
The Hong Kong
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