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3. NO DECISION WAS REACHED ON THE INDIAN REQUEST FOR INCREASES IN THEIR QUOTA LIMITS FOR COTTON TEXTILES IN THEIR ARTICLE 4 AGREE- MENT WITH THE COMMUNITY. THE GERMANS SAID THEY HAD NO OBJECTIONS TO THE PROPOSED INCREASES BUT THE FRENCH FELT THAT TO AGREE TO SUCH INCREASES WOULD CREATE A PRECEDENT WHICH MIGHT BE USED BY OTHER COUNTRIES AND WERE UNWILLING TO AGREE TO ANY INCREASES BEING MADE.
4. THE IRISH SAID THAT THEY COULD ACCEPT THE COMMISSION'S PROPOSAL THAT THE IRISH QUOTA FOR IMPORTS OF COTTON TEXTILES FROM KOREA SHOULD BE 23 TONNES, RATHER THAN THE 5 TONNES ORIGINALLY PROPOSED WHICH HAD AROUSED OBJECTIONS FROM THE KOREANS.
5. UNDER OTHER BUSINESS WE RAISED BRIEFLY THE QUESTION OF THE RECENT PRESS REPORTS OF SIR C. SOAMES REMARKS IN DELHI ABOUT THE MAINTENANCE BY THE ACCEDING COUNTRIES OF ZERO TARIFFS FOR JUTE PRODUCTS AND ASKED THAT AT THE NEXT MEETING OF THE GROUP THE COMMISSION SHOULD GIVE A FULL ACCOUNT OF WHAT HAD BEEN SAID. PAOLI (COMMISSION) WAS UNABLE TO COMMENT SUBSTANTIVELY SINCE THOSE CONCERNED HAVE NOT YET RETURNED FROM TOKYO BUT AGREED THAT THIS COULD BE DISCUSSED AT THE NEXT MEETING.
6. AT THE SUGGESTION OF THE FRENCH THE GROUP AGREED TO HOLD A FIRST EXCHANGE OF VIEWS ON OUR PAPER ON A COMMUNITY TEXTILE POLICY WHICH HAD BEEN DISTRIBUTED AT THE MEETING OF THE GROUP ON GENERALISED PREFERENCES ON 12 SEPTEMBER. AFTER A DETAILED PRESENTATION OF THE PAPER BY POWNALL (UK), COMMENTS WHICH WERE GENERALLY FAVOURABLE, WERE MADE BY THE GERMANS, FRENCH AND THE COMMISSION. FRIEDRICHS (GERMANY) SAID THAT SPEAKING PERSONALLY HE FOUND OUR PROPOSALS REASONABLE AND CONSTRUCTIVE. HE FULLY AGREED ON THE NEED FOR PROGRESS BY THE COMMUNITY TOWARDS GREATER BURDEN SHARING. HOWEVER HE REQUESTED CLARIFICATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP WE SAW BETWEEN OUR PAPER AND PROGRESS ON THE COMMUNITY'S GENERALISED PREFERENCE SCHEME FOR 1974. WERE WE SAYING THAT WE COULD NOT AGREE TO THE GPS SCHEME UNLESS THE PROPOSALS IN OUR PAPER WERE ACCEPTED IN FULL? POWNALL (UK) REPLIED THAT WE HAD CONSIDERABLE DIFFICULTIES WITH THE COMMISSION'S CURRENT PROPOSALS FOR OUR ALIGNMENT TO THE COMMUNITY'S GENERALISED PREFERENCE SCHEME AND THAT PROGRESS TOWARDS GREATER BURDEN SHARING AND A GENUINE COMMON MARKET IN TEXTILES WOULD HELP US TO OVERCOME
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