Telephone No.: 01: 222: 7677 Ext.2257
26 29/10/20
DEPARTMENT OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY,
BOARD-OF-TRADE
1 VICTORIA STREET
LONDON S.W.1
27 October, 1970
Confidential
Dear Wilford,
تمامی این است که تا سیاسی
I understand that the Prime Minister has noted the submission recommending that we stand by the Crosland decision of July last year to impose a tariff on CPA cotton textiles as from 1.1.1972 and at the same time terminate the present quota system and that we are thus now in a position to resume the approaches to certain Commonwealth Governments necessary to clear the way for the implementation of this decision.
As envisaged in Hughes' letter of 29 September to Bottomley, I am circulating herewith draft instructions to Delhi and Rawalpindi.
I shall also be circulating draft instructions for Canberra and Wellington. The Continuing Committee meeting at the end of this week will provide opportunity for getting the negotiations with the Canadians relaunched, and our S. African desk are considering how best to tackle the S. Africans.
The enclosed drafts for Delhi and Rawalpindi are largely self- explanatory, and on the possibly controversial issues of the bearing of Article 14 of the Indian Agreement and the corresponding Article III of the Pakistani Agreement and of Article IV of the Pakistani Agreement, I only want to add this.
As regards the former, it is our firm view here that we can and should take the line that the difference between the free entry to which the Irish Republic is entitled under the AIFTA and our min rates of duty is not a preference in the sense of Ottawa and successor Agreements. It is true that the AIFTA provides for the continuation, transitionally, of the mutual rights to preference established by the Ottawa type Agreement with the Republic which the AIFTA replaces, but the Irish rights to preference here come to an end on 30 June 1971 and our remaining preferences in Ireland are due to be eliminated by 1 July 1974.
One cannot predict anything with certainty, but it is a fair guess perhaps that neither India nor Pakistan will be concerned with their position in the UK market relative to that of the Republic. As we know from the talks with the Indians last year, what, inter alia, worries them is the tariff disadvantage they will incur relative to Portugal and this is doubtless a point which will be in the minds of the Pakistanis. Fortunately there is no equivalent to Article IV of the Pakistani Agreement in our Agreement with India; their hold on us is through their rights to free entry and preference against foreigners under Articles 1 and 2. There is however clearly a risk that the Pakistanis may regard Article IV as giving them a right to equality with Portugal.
K.M. Wilford. Esq.,
CMG
South East Asian Department,
Foreign and Commonwealth Office,
SW1.
/The
HING/548/D
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.