TUESDAY, MAY 25, 1982
HK/EEC TEXTILE NEGOTIATIONS
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+HONG KONG AND THE EEC ARE AS FAR APART ON TEXTILES AS KOWLOON AND BRUSSELS - TRAVELLING THE LONG WAY ROUND,+ SAID MR LAWRENCE MILLS, HONG KONG'S COMMISSIONER OF TRADE, AT A PRESS CONFERENCE TODAY (TUESDAY).
HE WAS SPEAKING BEFORE HIS DEPARTURE AT THE WEEKEND FOR BRUSSELS FOR THE SUBSTANTIVE NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY ON THE FUTURE OF THE HK/EEC TEXTILE RESTRAINT AGREEMENT WHICH EXPIRES AT THE END OF THIS YEAR.
+I THINK WE ARE FACING THE MOST DIFFICULT NEGOTIATIONS THAT WE HAVE YET HAD IN THE FIELD OF TEXTILES AND IT WOULD BE A BRAVE MAN WHO WOULD FORECAST THE OUTCOME WITH ANY CONFIDENCE AT THIS STAGE.
+THERE ARE REAL AND SUBSTANTIAL DIFFERENCES OF PRINCIPLE AND PRACTICE BETWEEN HONG KONG AND THE EEC AND IT IS GOING TO BE DIFFICULT TO BRIDGE THE GAP, HE SAID. ONE OF THE MAJOR PROBLEMS, I THINK, WILL BE THE LETTERS I EXCHANGED IN GENEVA WITH
DR KRENZLER, THE EEC'S CHIEF TEXTILE NEGOTIATOR, AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE MFA NEGOTIATIONS LAST YEAR.+
DURING THE MFA NEGOTIATIONS HONG KONG AND THE EEC NEGOTIATORS EXCHANGED LETTERS WHICH, ALTHOUGH NOT MADE PUBLIC, ARE UNDERSTOOD TO RECORD THE FACT THAT THE PROBLEMS WHICH THE COMMUNITY CLAIMS IT HAS AS A RESULT OF IMPORTS FROM HONG KONG SHOULD BE RESOLVED BILATERALLY IN MUTUALLY ACCEPTABLE ARRANGEMENTS WHICH TAKE ACCOUNT OF THE INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN TO THE EEC NEGOTIATORS.
THESE INSTRUCTIONS INCLUDE A PROVISION WHICH REQUIRES EEC NEGOTIATORS TO SEEK TO SECURE CUTBACKS IN ACCESS ON A LIMITED NUMBER OF CATEGORIES OF GARMENTS.
COMMENTING ON THE EXCHANGE OF LETTERS. MR MILLS SAID THAT THERE SEEMED TO BE SOME SERIOUS MISUNDERSTANDING OF THEM IN THE MEMBER STATES.
*THE MEMBER STATES SEEM TO BE UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT HONG KONG HAS ALREADY AGREED TO CUTBACKS. THIS IS NOT THE CASE. HONG KONG REPEATEDLY STRESSED IN THE TEXTILES COMMITTEE MEETINGS LAST YEAR DURING THE RENEGOTIATION OF THE MFA THAT IT COULD NOT ACCEPT CUTBACKS AND THIS WAS MADE ABSOLUTELY CLEAR TO THE EEC NEGOTIATORS AT THE TIME THE LETTERS WERE EXCHANGED. A FIRST TASK OF THE HONG KONG DELEGATION THEREFORE WILL BE TO MAKE ITS POSITION ON THESE CUTBACKS ABSOLUTELY CLEAR,+ MR MILLS SAID,
TURNING TO ANOTHER ASPECT OF THE NEGOTIATIONS, MR MILLS RECALLED THAT, ALTHOUGH IT SHOULD NOT BE SO, THE FACT REMAINED THAT WHENEVER HONG KONG NEGOTIATED WITH A MAJOR TRADING PARTNER SUCH AS THE EEC, IT HAD TO KEEP A WARY EYE ON POSSIBLE REACTIONS FROM OTHER MAJOR TRADING PARTNERS TO ANYTHING THAT MIGHT BE AGREED.
/+THIS ADDS