TNAG-0939-FCO40-1158-Visit-of-John-Nott--Secretary-of-State-for-Trade--to-Hong-Ko-1981 — Page 6

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After the usual opening courtesies, the Chairman briefly explained the status of the Textiles Advisory Board and its Terms of Reference. Members were privy to confidential information and had undertaken to respect the confidentiality of anything discussed at the meeting. He said that on previous occasions involving visite of Minister, joint meetings of the Advisory Boards were arranged. However, as the Minister's present visit was connected solely with trade in textiles, he thought it appropriate for

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Mr. Parkinson only to meet Members of the Textiles Advisory Board. No formal agenda had been prepared for the meeting; this was to ensure that there would be a free exchange of views. He then invited Mr. Parkinson to speak.

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Mr. Parkinson said that he would start by giving a brief account of the situation in the UK and he hoped thereafter to explore Hong Kong's views on certain matters of actual interest.

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Mr. Parkinson said that the UK textile lobby was well organised and efficient. A third of his time was spent dealing with problems connected with the textile industry. This was a very high proportion having regard to the wide range of subjects he had to handle. In the past year, a number of mills had been closed and numerous jobs lost. The textile industry was militant and could not make up its mind whether to blame the government or imports, so it blamed both. The industry had been successful in getting what it wanted when the bilaterals were negotiated three years ago. It had recently started putting forward such concepts as recession clause, global ceiling etc. It was also busy recruiting Members of Parliament to argue its case. The industry also worked closely with the industries in the Member States where the French were known to be active. On the other hand, the consumer lobby was now more active than before. The Retail Consortium was another voice and had recently made a submission to the HMG on the future of the MFA. These voices were however muted by the strong textile lobby.

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In the light of the rate of recent mill closures and there was no sign that the trend was slowing down, the UK Government was in a dilemma because it was not clear what sort of industry the Government would be negotiating for in six months' time. A tighter MFA would reduce the ability of many developing countries to increase their export earnings, this in turn would affect their ability to import British goods, Mr. Parkinson continued. The interest of the UK textile industry could not be viewed in isolation from the rest of the British manufacturing industry. For the time being, therefore, the Government was keeping its powder dry simply listening in and watching developments. The Government was not generating any pressures. Pressures had been generated on the Government.

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Mr. Parkinson said that the textile mission to Hong Kong had a dual purpose. On the one hand, they were here to investigate broad opportunities for increasing sales of quality British fabrics to Hong Kong. On the other, they would take the opportunity to tell Hong Kong some of their political problems and assure Hong Kong that the UK Government would not be seeking to change the terms of the current hK/EEC Textiles Agreement. He then asked Members how Hong Kong thought the present MFA had been working and what Hong Kong wanted in the next MFA.

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