TNAG-0464-FCO40-529-Entitlement-of-Hong-Kong-to-EEC-Generalised-Scheme-of-Prefer-1974 — Page 89

2. On the contrary, we believe that the result of forming

such a link could well be that no GSP improvements at all

(And,

—it

for Hong Kong would be agreed, not even on footwear it could lead to

ht be growing support for the Dutch view that the so-called

super-competitive suppliers should not receive GSP benefits,

t

and/a considerable erosion of what sympathy there is in the

Community for Hong Kong's position. The representations

made in Community capitals just before the summer break

would have been to ho avail.

3. We agree that the Community's GSP discussions are not

looking as good as they might from the Hong Kong point of

view and that Tran. has not helped by the line (which was

entirely personal) which he took with Dodge recently.

(Brussels' telegram No 61 to you). But much ground has

still to be covered before final decisions are taken.

At the end of the day we consider that there is a good

chance that the Commission's proposals on footwear for

Hong Kong will be agreed, or at least a substantial pert

of them, and we do not exclude the possibility that some

Mamsen non-sensitive items in the textiles field will also

be agreed. Moreoever, the Community is still a long way

from agreeing the Commission's proposals for the super-

competitive countries. There may, however, be a need to

go along with special butoir arrangements for the super

/competitive

....

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