CONFIDENTIAL
HONG KONG TELEGRAM NO. 407 TO F.C.O.
-3-
COUNTRY HAS SOLE DISCRETION AS TO THE COUNTRIES AND PRODUCTS
TO BE RESTRICTED.
5.
ASKED SPECIFICIALLY IF WE WOULD ATTEND A GATT MEETING IF THEY CALLED ONE, WE SAID THAT WE WERE NOT IN A POSITION TO REPLY AS WE WERE NOT MEMBERS OF THE GATT IN OUR OWN RIGHT. IT
WE DID, HOWEVER, ASSURE HIM
WOULD DEPEND ON BRITAIN'S REACTION.
THAT WE WERE PREPARED TO RENEW THE PRESENT DISCUSSIONS WITH THEM
WHENEVER THEY MIGHT SO REQUEST.
6. THE MEETING WAS NOT A PARTICULARLY CORDIAL ONE, PARTLY DUE, POSSIBLY, TO THE STRAIN ON STANS OF THE LAST FEW WEEKS, PARTLY TO THE INEVITABLE NAKEDNESS OF HIS APPROACH. STANS CLAIMED
THAT HE HAD HAD MORE ENCOURAGING RESPONSES ELSEWHERE (ALTHOUGH HE MUST HAVE KNOWN THAT WE KNOW THE CONTRARY) AND, IN SPITE OF
OUR ASSURANCES REFERRED TO IN PARAS 3 AND 5 ABOVE, EXPRESSED
THE OPINION AFTER THE MEETING THAT THIS WAS THE WORST RECEPTION
HE HAD HAD. POSSIBLY IT WAS ONE OF THE FRANKEST BUT STANS'
REMARK MAY WELL HAVE BEEN TACTICAL.
6. (SIC) IN A PUBLIC STATEMENT STANS SAID: ''THE GOVERNMENT SHOWED
ITSELF WILLING TO RECOGNISE THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROBLEM,
BUT WAS NOT SYMPATHETIC TO THE POINT OF AN IMMEDIATE RESPONSE''.
OUR OWN PRESS RELEASE MERELY SAID THAT WE HAD NOTED WHAT STANS
HAD TO SAY AND HAD ASSURED HIM THAT WE WOULD RENEW DISCUSSIONS
AT ANY TIME AT HIS REQUEST. PUBLIC REACTION HAS BEEN UNSYMPATHETIC
BUT REASONABLY CALM.
7.
IN CONSIDERATION LATER WITH DIRECTOR OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY,
NEHMER ADMITTED THAT IF THEY OBTAINED A NEW MULTILATERAL AGREEMENT
ON THE LINES OF THE CTA THEY WOULD THEN PROCEED TO SEEK COMPREHENSIVE
BILATERAL AGREEMENTS UNDER ARTICLE 4'. WHEN JORDAN SAID THAT TO
SEEK SUCH AGREEMENTS WHEN NO MARKET DISRUPTION EXISTS UNDERLINE
CONFIDENTIAL
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