27 C.S. 20A (Rev.)
SAVING "DESPATCH
1
From the Governor, Hong Kong Criscial transferet
To the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
ki
No. 237
HKK6/25
No.
No.
Repeated to:-
Repeated to:--
Date.
24th February, 1970...... My Reference. CR 12/4841/69.
Your Reference
Cotton Textiles.
Commonwealth Preferences
I am concerned that any representation Hong Kong may make on the proposal announced, in July 1969 by the then President of the Board of Trade, that the U.K. Government will from 1st January 1972 adopt a tariff on imports of cotton textiles from the Commonwealth Preference Area in place of the present quota arrangements, should be based on a realistic assessment. The lack of formal communication on the subject while such an assessment is completed does not therefore in any way reflect a lack of concern over the implications and effects of the decision
2.
To assist with this assessment the Hong Kong Textiles Advisory Board has set up an Advisory Committee on Hong Kong's Cotton Textiles Exports to Britain charged with assessing the likely effects of your decision on Hong Kong's cotton textile exports to Britain; and reporting its conclusions and recommendations to the main Board.
3.
The main basis for the assessment will, however, be a survey currently in progress. Some 1,500 manufacturers and shippers are being covered and the field work should be completed in about one month. Compilation and assessment of the data should then take two or three weeks. A Government view will then be formulated in the light of the Textiles Advisory Board's advice and I would hope to communicate it to you by the end of March.
4.
So as to assist me in formulating my views and advice to you I should however be grateful for any information you can give me on the outcome of the discussions already held with Canada and India. I should also be grateful for further elucidation of the points set out in the following paragraphs.
5.
In the course of his statement in the House of Commons on 22nd July 1969, the President said that "the Government would consider the use of quotas only on particu- lar products under the Long Term Cotton Arrangement of the G.A.T.T., and only if total imports of cotton textiles rose significantly above the present level and caused disruption to the market in those particular products".
CONFIDENTIAL /6. I find ...........
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