CONFIDENTIAL
Korea and Taiwan. He recognised that the Six had difficulties over Hong Kong. But Hong Kong's economy was vulnerable to a much greater extent than that of Taiwan. It would be very helpful if Hong Kong could be dealt with adequately in the context of generalised preferences, thereby reducing the size of the difficulty for the enlargement negotiations. In aswer to a question from Signor Malfatti, Mr. Rippon said that we were thinking of a six-year period for agriculture - not only for Britain, but for Britain's traditional suppliers. Australia, for instance had problems which would become easier with a long transitional period.
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Signor Malfatti asked for Mr. Rippon'w views on the timetable. Mr. Rippon said that at first he had been disappointed that there would be only two ministerial meetings in the last quarter of this year but it was clearly undesirable to have meetings without substantial matters to discuss and without proper preparation. He hoped that on 27 October progress would be made e.g. on pigmeat, eggs and milk on the annual review for agriculture and on association for dependent territories, and that there would be further progress at the meeting on December 8. At least one of the major items should be tackled, A clear idea of the timetable for the early part of 1971 was needed. He hoped it would be possible to break the back of the negotiations by the summer and that the agreement could have been concluded by 1 January, 1972.
10. Signor Malfatti concluded with a general reference to the great political importance of the
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