TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1990
HE SAID: "WE HAVE A TEAM OF OFFICIALS NOW IN GENEVA, WORKING CONTRACTING PARTIES LITERALLY DAY AND NIGHT, TO NEGOTIATE WITH OTHER
INTELLECTUAL SERVICES,
PROPERTY CONDITIONS UNDER
TEXTILES,
IN MANY AREAS, INCLUDING RIGHTS, REDUCTIONS IN TARIFFS, AND RULES GOVERNING WHICH IMPORTING COUNTRIES CAN IMPOSE RESTRICTIONS, ETC."
MR WONG SAID THE NEGOTIATIONS WERE DIFFICULT.
"BUT I HOPE THIS MULTILATERAL OR INTERNATIONAL EFFORT WILL
PROVIDE A RESULT IN A FREE INTERNATIONAL TRADING ENVIRONMENT,
LEGAL AGAINST PROTECTIONIST AND MORAL CHECK
PRESSURES, AND SET A GOOD EXAMPLE TO OTHER REGIONAL INSTITUTIONS OR ARRANGEMENTS.
77
AND WITH A FEW
MR WONG SAID THE GATT HAD PROVIDED A STABLE, EXCEPTIONS SUCH AS TRADE IN TEXTILES, NON-DISCRIMINATORY FRAMEWORK WITHIN WHICH FREE TRADERS LIKE HONG KONG COULD OPERATE AND PROSPER.
HE SAID HONG KONG FULFILLED ALL OBLIGATIONS
AS A CONTRACTING AND ITS PRIMARY EXTERNAL TRADE PARTY TO THE GATT
POLICY WAS ΤΟ PROMOTE A FREE, OPEN AND STABLE MULTILATERAL TRADING SYSTEM.
CLOSER
SPEAKING ON REGIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND ARRANGEMENTS, MR WONG SAID THAT AS ECONOMIES WITHIN A REGION BECAME
ECONOMICALLY, NATURAL, COUPLED WITH THEIR HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL TIES, IT WAS ONLY OVER TIME, FOR SUCH A RELATIONSHIP TO BE INSTITUTIONALISED.
HE SAID THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY, AND ITS COMMITMENT TOWARDS A SINGLE MARKET IN 1992, WAS A CLASSIC EXAMPLE.
HE POINTED OUT THAT THE AIM OF THE SINGLE MARKET WAS TO REMOVE ALL INTERNAL BARRIERS.
"UNLESS IT CLOSES ITSELF INTO A FORTRESS AND WE HAVE BEEN NOT REASSURED BY MANY DISTINGUISHED EUROPEAN MINISTERS THAT THIS WILL
THE CASE
IT
OPEN WILL
UP NEW AND LONG-TERM BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES TO ALL THOSE OUTSIDE EUROPE.
BE
-
HOWEVER, HE ADDED THAT HE WOULD NOT BE SO NAIVE AS TO IGNORE THE UNDERLYING PROTECTIONIST SENTIMENTS OF SOME EUROPEAN DOMESTIC
MIGHT INDUSTRIES AND THE PRESSURES THEY
BEAR ON RESTRICT OR FRUSTRATE EXTERNAL COMPETITION.
ASIA
THE
COMMUNITY
ΤΟ
THE IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC, MR WONG SAID
PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) WAS LAUNCHED LAST YEAR AS AN INFORMAL PROCESS INVOLVING THE ECONOMIES OF THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, SOUTH KOREA, JAPAN, ASEAN, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND.
MAY IN OF THE
SINGAPORE "AT THE SECOND MINISTERIAL-LEVEL MEETING IN THIS YEAR, APEC PARTICIPANTS RE-AFFIRMED THE SIGNIFICANT ROLE THREE ECONOMIES OF CHINA, HONG KONG AND TAIWAN IN THE REGION AND EXPRESSED THE VIEW THAT IT WOULD BE DESIRABLE FOR THE THREE TO JOIN.
THE VERY BEGINNING THAT IT "HONG KONG MADE IT CLEAR FROM IN OUR INTEREST AS WELL AS IN THE INTEREST OF APEC FOR PLAY A FULL PART IN THIS PROCESS.
HONG KONG
IS
ΤΟ
/"WE HAVE