*ED IN
REGISTRY No.51
17 AUG 1971
нском
19.extract
Wednesday, August 4, 1971
221
5
HONG KONG INCLUDED IN JAPANESE PREFERENCE SCHEME
Subject To Certain Limitations
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The Director of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Jack Cater, today said
the Japanese Government proposed to include Hong Kong in the second phase of the Japanese Generalised Preference Scheme, probably with effect from April 1
1972.
He pointed out that the first phase did not include Hong Kong and
other dependent territories.
Council.
Mr. Cater was replying to the Hon. Dr. S.Y. Chung in the Legislative
He said the British Government and the Hong Kong Government had had
discussions with the Japanese Government over a period of many months on the question of Hong Kong's inclusion as a beneficiary in the Japanese Generalised
Preference Scheme.
The question had also been discussed by the Secretary of State with
Mr. Aichi who was Japanese Foreign Minister when he visited London in June
this year.
In a communique issued after those talks, Mr. Aichi had declared that
it was the intention of the Japanese Government to include Hong Kong in their
scheme, subject to certain limitations and some delay in application.
Mr. Cater explained that the UNCTAD scheme of generalised preferences
was a series of unilateral æts by individual countries, authorised under a
formal waiver under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, under which
these donor countries grant tariff preferences to developing countries.
Each donor country had the right to determine the details of its
own scheme and the right to determine the beneficiaries under its scheme,
he said.
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