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TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 1990
MR CHAU SAID ONE OF HIS PRIORITY
TASKS SINCE TAKING UP HIS POST IN JANUARY HAD BEEN THE NEGOTIATIONS IN THE URUGUAY ROUND ON A FRAMEWORK TO GOVERN WORLD TRADE IN TEXTILES AND CLOTHING AFTER EXPIRY OF THE MULTI-FIBRE ARRANGEMENT IN JULY 1991.
HE SAID PROGRESS IN THE TEXTILES NEGOTIATIONS WOULD BE AN IMPORTANT KEY TO PROGRESS IN THE URUGUAY ROUND AS A WHOLE.
"THE TEXTILES SECTOR IS OF MAJOR INTEREST TO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, WHO MUST SECURE SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENTS IN THIS AREA IF THEY ARE TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE REST OF THE TRADE PACKAGE TO EMERGE FROM THE ROUND. FAILURE HERE WOULD INEVITABLY UNDERMINE THE ROUND AS A WHOLE.
"THIS WOULD HAVE EXTREMELY SERIOUS IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF WORLD TRADE, AND WOULD BE IN NOBODY'S INTEREST, DEVELOPED AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES ALIKE," HE SAID.
MR CHAU SAID THE ITCB, ACCOUNTING FOR THE BULK OF TEXTILE AND CLOTHING EXPORTS FROM DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND OF WHICH HONG kong WAS A MEMBER, HAD PROPOSED TO THE URUGUAY ROUND NEGOTIATING GROUP ON TEXTILES AND CLOTHING THAT THE MOST APPROPRIATE WAY AHEAD WAS THE GRADUAL PHASING OUT OF MFA RESTRICTIONS WITHIN A DEFINITE TIME SPAN.
"DURING THIS INTEGRATION OR TRANSITION PERIOD, RESTRICTIONS SHOULD BE REMOVED THROUGH PROGRESSIVELY HIGHER GROWTH RATES, GREATER FLEXIBILITY, AND SIMPLIFICATION OF PRODUCT CATEGORISATION, AND SO ON.
"BY THE END OF THIS PERIOD, THE QUOTA LIMITS WOULD HAVE GROWN
TO SUCH AN EXTENT THAT THEY WOULD BECOME NOTIONAL AND ACADEMIC.
"IT IS ENVISAGED THAT THERE SHOULD THEN BE NO MORE RESTRICTIONS ON WORLD TRADE IN TEXTILES AND CLOTHING, EXCEPT WHERE JUSTIFIED UNDER THE GATT SAFEGUARD PROVISIONS FOR EMERGENCY MEASURES AGAINST INJURIOUS IMPORTS, HE SAID.
HOWEVER, MR CHAU SAID, THE ITCB'S PROPOSAL FOR AN TRANSITIONAL ARRANGEMENT WAS MET WITH A LONG SILENCE BY THE COUNTRIES.
MFA-BASED IMPORTING
HE SAID THE V.9. AND CANADA, TWO MAJOR TEXTILE IMPORTING COUNTRIES, HAD ONLY RECENTLY PROPOSED A GLOBAL QUOTA SYSTEM AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE MFA-BASED APPROACH PROPOSED BY ITCB.
THAT,
MR CHAU SAID THE FIRST IMPLICATION OF THE GLOBAL QUOTA PROPOSAL FOR EXPORTING COUNTRIES AND TERRITORIES WOULD BE INSTEAD OF PROGRESSIVE LIBERALISATION OF TRADE AFTER EXPIRY OF THE CURRENT MFA, MORE COUNTRIES WOULD BE BROUGHT UNDER RESTRAINT.
"SECONDLY, THE DOMESTIC INDUSTRY WOULD BE MORE SHELTERRD FROM FOREIGN COMPETITION, AS IMPORTS FROM FOREIGN SUPPLIERS WOULD BE SUBJECT TO A GLOBAL CEILING.
/"WITH SUCH .....................