TNAG-0134-FCO40-170-Tariff-preferences-for-developing-countries-1969 — Page 8

CONFIDENTIAL

RECEIVED BOARD OF TRADE REGISTRY No.43 Victoria Street

१९

21 JUL 1969

London S.W.1.

MTU 15/2

15th July, 1969

}

UNCTAD Preferences

This is just to acknowledge your two very interesting letters of 10th and 11th July and your telephone call on Friday. We have been considering this information very carefully.

2.

Derek Jones is at present in Hong Kong filling a holiday vacancy there and I have therefore arranged with Bill Dorward of the Hong Kong Department of Commerce and Industry who is now on leave in this country but went to the Special Committee on Preferences with me a fortnight ago, to be available in Paris from the evening of July 15th. I cannot go to this meeting of the OECD Group and our representative will be John Morris.

3. We are of course prepared to reaffirm the U.K. position which is mentioned in the submission we tabled on 1st March, that the only solution we can see to the problem of beneficiary countries is the self-election principle and that we expect all our developing territories to be included as beneficiaries. The position is well understood both by the Commission and by the principal states of the Community but there is no objection to repeating all this in the OECD Group this week if it helps Di Martino in obtaining a favourable decision from the Six when they come to tackle this issue.

4. We are also prepared to continue the informal discussions which Derek Jones has been having with Tran although Bill Dorward is at something of a disadvantage in acting as a substitute for Derek Jones, however we hope to be able to brief him as well as possible with the papers he has not already seen.

5.

Our concern in these informal discussions with the Commission that take place this weck, is to avoid being pushed into too firm a position from which the Commission can claim that they have persuaded us to give our approval to a given outcome and either the Hong Kong Government or British Industry, or both, can complain that we have agreed to arrangements which they do not accept.

6.

John Morris and Bill Dorward will do their best to give the Commission as much help as possible without giving rise to these difficulties.

D. H. A. Hannay Esq.,

United Kingdom Delegation to the

European Communities

(0. H. Kemmis)

26, Rue Joseph II, Brussels 4.

CONFIDENTIAL

C.C. MR. R.G. Bitten -F.co

་ད