§ Mr. Oramasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the conferences and negotiations which he anticipates will be held in 1973 and 1974 and which will have a direct effect upon the trade relationship between developing countries on the one hand and the member countries of the European Economic Community, as a group, on the other, stating the dates and places in so far as these have already been fixed.
§ Sir G. HoweThe negotiations for a convention to succeed the present Yaounde and Arusha Conventions and to give effect to Protocol 22 of the Treaty of Accession are expected to begin in August 1973. The location has not yet been determined.
Negotiations for the renewal of the International Sugar Agreement will take place in Geneva in the summer of 1973. The International Coffee Conference will 9W be meeting in April 1973 in London. The International Cocoa Conference will be meeting later this year to carry forward the work on the recently concluded International Cocoa Agreement.
The negotiations of protocols, to take account of EEC enlargement, to the Agreements between the EEC and Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon and Malta, are now taking place in Brussels and are expected to be completed shortly.
Preparations for bilateral negotiations with India are at an advanced stage. Certain other bilateral negotiations are expected between the EEC and developing countries, in the Commonwealth and elsewhere, for which no precise timetable has yet been established.
More generally the forthcoming multilateral trade negotiations in the GATT and GATT discussions about textiles involve the EEC and the developing countries and so does the continuing programme of consultations on trade subjects under the aegis of the United Nations.