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"I must reiterate the Governor's statement yesterday, that we owe it to those who suffered in the landslide tragedy to do all we can to make sites safe wherever possible and as fast as possible," he noted.
end/Friday, December 2, 1994
HK pleased with Uruguay Act passage in US Congress
The Director-General of Trade, Mr Tony Miller, today (Friday) said the Government was pleased that the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA) had gained congressional passage in the United States.
The Act was passed in the US House of Representatives on November 29 and in the Senate on December 1. It now awaits President Clinton to sign it into law.
Mr Miller said: "This takes us over a major hurdle on the way to the establishment of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on January 1, 1995."
"The world looks to the US for leadership in promoting free trade under the multilateral regime. The passage of the URAA in the US should help speed up the ratification of the WTO Agreement by other major trading entities including the European Union, Japan and Canada," he added.
Hong Kong is among the first 30 participants in the Uruguay Round to have ratified the Agreement. The necessary ratification formalities were completed on October 1.
"The establishment of the WTO will be a vote of confidence in, and strengthening of, the multilateral trading system, which has served Hong Kong well over the past 40 years," Mr Miller said.
"As we have said before, we are concerned about certain provisions in the URAA which we find objectionable. These included unilateral changes to the rules of origin for textiles and apparel products, and certain provisions regarding anti-dumping.
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