XN000022-1973-05-01 — Page 6

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Tuesday, May 1, 1973

Sir Geoffrey said he was continuously engaged in improving the high quality of British goods "directly for the sake of consumers in Britain but

indirectly to the advantage of all our customers around the world."

"And among those customers," he added, "I stress the importance of Hong Kong."

While Britain was looking hard at the importance of the large European

market and those in Asia including the Japanese and Chinese markets Hong

Kong would not be overlooked, he said.

In this regard, he said he would be urging British exporters to visit

Hong Kong more often, to stay unger and "to sell harder."

He predicted that the number of British business miestone to Hong Kong

would treble this year.

Exhibition

Noting the success of the British Industrial Exhibition held in Hong

Kong last October, Sir Geoffrey revealed that consideration was being given to

staging another major exhibition of British products in the comparatively near

future.

Turning to international trade, Sir Geoffrey said he had every reason

to believe that trade throughout Asia, and indeed the world, would continue

to expand.

During his visit to Japan, one of the subjects of his discussions

had been "sustained, but not immoderate" trade expansion.

In the light of these discussions, he was "reasonably hopeful" of the

prospects for the forthcoming multi-lateral round of negotiations in GATT which

are to begin later this year.

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