§ Mr. Leightonasked the Secretary of State for Trade what is his explanation of the poor performance of United Kingdom exporters in the EEC in contrast to the performance in the other areas in which he considers the United Kingdom does extremely well.
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§ Mr. ParkinsonI would not agree that our export performance in EEC has been poor. Indeed, during the 1970s United Kingdom exports to the EEC have grown rather faster than to the rest of the developed countries. Further, over this period we have broadly maintained our share of the value of OECD exports to the Community. Exports have, however, grown more rapidly to some other areas of the world, for example to the OPEC countries as a group, where imports have been markedly increased as a result of the oil price rises.