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XY NG 52 OCT 1974
(+ KK 6/598/11
RQ Braithwaite Esq
BRITISH EMBASSY THE HAGUE
19 September 1974
European Integration Department (External) Foreign and Commonwealth Office
D. Hanna pseu
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Dear Braithwaite
HONG KONG AND COMMUNITY GSP
Dibenned. Now
brá
In The Hague telegram no. 389 (not to all) we promised to report on Fat Dodge's visit here on 17 September.
2.
The working luncheon given by Verhagen was particularly useful. Verhagen and Klinkenbergh explained that there was to be an interdepartmental meeting at the end of week to begin the process of deciding the Netherlands position on the 1975 Community GSP. They described the positions of the ministries involved as follows:
E
Economic Affairs (their own Ministry): textiles and footwear were extremely difficult for the Dutch as fer other Community members. The footwear industry was
badly organised, uncompetitive, and in decline. Moreover, it was sited in an area of high unemployment. Téxtiles were oven more sensitive: they had already suffered considerably, particularly from Italian ́ competition, and were concentrated in an area with a narrow industrial base. Their Minister had already received representations from the footwear industry (albeit on the false assumption that footwear was to be removed from the list of sensitive products). He would not be disposed to improve Hong Kong's position. Indeed, as regards super-competitive beneficiaries, Linistry officials had argued that if the butoir for a particuler product was hit two years in a row, it should be reduced to nil forthwith;
b) the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would be neither particularly helpful nor unhelpful, since no major European interest was involved;
c) although development co-operation officials would doubtless be too polite to say so, the real obstacle to a helpful Dutch attitude towards Hong Kong was their Minister. Mr Pronk believed that the Community GSP
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