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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 1994
IN
HE WAS CRITICAL OF A TENDENCY TOWARDS TRADING BLOCS.
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"SEVERAL GOVERNMENTS, FRUSTRATED WITH THE SLOW SPEED OF CHANGE GATT AND IMPELLED BY OTHER STRATEGIC IMPERATIVES HAVE TRIED TO IMPROVE ON IT BY EXPERIMENTING WITH OTHER MORE LOCALISED ATTEMPTS AT FREEING UP TRADE. HE SAID.
POOR
IN HONG KONG'S VIEW, HE SAID, SUCH ARRANGEMENTS WERE SECOND-BEST ΤΟ THE MULTILATERAL SYSTEM, AND THEIR WEAKNESSES, ESPECIALLY THOSE OF CUSTOMS UNIONS, WERE MANIFOLD.
"GENERALLY SPEAKING, THEY DEFINE THE LIMITS OF FREEDOM RATHER THAN THE POTENTIAL FOR INCREASING IT. EXTERNAL TRADE POLICIES TEND TO BE DICTATED BY THE LOWEST INTERNAL COMMON DENOMINATOR," HE SAID.
"REFORE, DURING AND AFTER FORMATION, HE ADDED, 'BUSINESSMEN ARE DISTRACTED FROM EXTERNAL MARKETS BY THE NEED TO CARVE OUT AND THEN
DEFEND INTERNAL MARKET SHARE.
"THE ARRANGEMENTS ENCOURAGE ACCEPTANCE OF THE FALLACY THAT GEOGRAPHICALLY CONTIGUOUS AREAS ARE MORE NATURAL TRADING PARTNERS THAN THOSE WHICH ARE SEPARATE, AND THEY ENCOURAGE IMITATION,'
P
MR MILLER CITED EUROPEAN COMMISSION (EC) TRADE FIGURES ΤΟ ILLUSTRATE HOW THIS "BLOCIST" TENDENCY DISTORTED BOTH THE WAY INVESTMENT DECISIONS WERE MADE.
QUOTING AN ANALYSIS OF GATT STATISTICS BY ECONOMIST MARTIN WOLF,
HE NOTED THAT, OVER THE 30 YEARS FROM 1961 TO 1991. THE SHARE OF INTRA-EC TRADE IN WORLD EXPORTS ROSE FROM 15 PER CENT TO 24 PER (ENT.
OVER THE SAME PERIOD, MEMBER STATES' EXPORTS TO ONE ANOTHER INCREASED FROM 43 PER CENT OF TOTAL EXPORTS TO 62 PER CENT, AND YET THE SHARE OF EC EXPORTS TO THIRD MARKETS IN WORLD EXPORTS FELL FROM 20 PER CENT TO 15 PER CENT.
"THUS ALTHOUGH WORLD TRADE GREW AND, WITHIN THIS, THE TOTAL VOLUME OF EC TRADE ALSO CONTINUED TO GROW, MEMBER STATES INCREASINGLY TRADED WITH ONE ANOTHER AT THE EXPENSE OF THEIR SHARE OF THE EXTERNAL WORLD MARKET," HE SAID.
"HONG KONG IS A REAL FAN OF APEC; WE SEE APEC AS THE ARCHITECTURE FOR OPEN REGIONALISM IN THE ASIA PACIFIC, COMPLEMENTARY ROLE TO THE MULTILATERAL FRAMEWORK IN THE GATT, THE WAY IN GLOBAL TRADE LIBERALISATION.
"SINCE HONG KONG JOINED
PRINCIPAL TAKING A LEADING
APEC IN NOVEMBER 1991, WE HAVE DEDICATED SIGNIFICANT RESOURCES TO IT AND WE AIM TO INCREASE OUR RESOURCES FURTHER IN THIS AREA EVEN UNDER AN OVERALL TIGHTENING OF OUR BUDGET.
"AS YOU WOULD EXPECT, WE ARE VERY ACTIVE IN THE COMMITTEE ON TRADE AND INVESTMENT, TAKING A KEY ROLE IN ALL EXPERT GROUPS, INCLUDING THE CUSTOMS PROCEDURES GROUP, THE STANDARD. AND CONFORMANCE GROUP, THE TARIFF DATABASE GROUP, THE INVESTMENT GROUP AND THE SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES GROUP.
/"SIMILARLY, WE
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