XN000022-1973-10-15 — Page 2

Monday, October 15, 1973

DISCRIMINATORY CONSTRAINTS ON TRADE CAUSE FOR ANXIETY

The Financial Secretary, Mr. C.P. Haddon-Cave, said today that

Hong Kong has very real anxieties about discriminatory constraints, on

trade.

He said: "We are worried about preferential tariff schemes which

do not apply to all competitor countries alike and thereby give unfair

advantages to some at the unwarranted expense of others."

Mr. Haddon-Cave was speaking at a luncheon meeting today, the

opening day of the American Fortnight.

However, he believed that such difficulties as remain between

the United States and Hong Kong could be overcome.

His confidence, the Financial Secretary said, stems in part from

the fact that, there is, in political reality, no question of large

countries dominating small countries in the sphere of international trade.

"And, in any case, no country is truly independent in economic

terus; instead there is a degree of inter-dependence and, in the case of

the United States and Hong Kong, I would like to think that this inter-

dependence has generated a fund of goodwill and of mutual trust and

understanding which pervades ideas of self-interest," Mr. Haddon-Cave

said.

Note to Editors:

The full text of the Financial Secretary's

speech will be distributed separately in the G.I.S.

press boxes this evening.

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