XN000022-1979-09-17 — Page 13

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The voice of consumer interests

and at the end of the day it is

they who have to pay is increasingly being heard in protest at the cost of protectionism. Objective studies by impartial official and academic bodies all of them, I might add, in developed countries are beginning to proliferate, underlining the arguments I have just sketched. This is timely. We are approaching another critical period in the evolution of this situation and if clear sightedness and enlightened long term self-interest on the part of major powers do not prevail, the consequent damage may not be confined to the few so-called low cost suppliers of textile product.

I close these remarks by quoting part of a recent editorial on

the subject in the Financial Times.

'Adjustment is not impossible. West Germany is now a successful textile exporting country. The Germans have moved heavily into the top- quality, high-fashion end of the market leaving lower-cost countries free to exploit the cheaper ranges. The country's traditional free-trading mentality has helped it to face the unavoidable consequences of world-wide developments more quickly than others. When trade grows fast, it is often the same sort of products that account for rapid increases in both imports and exports. Protectionism can delay the adjustment process, at the risk of considerable economic cost. But the delay is liable to make the final, inevitable adjustment that much more painful.'

open

Mr. President, I now declare the 1979 International Conference

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