§ Lord Juddasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, during the United Kingdom presi-dency of the Council of Ministers, they will seek to achieve improved access for developing countries to the European market by progressive removal of escalating tariffs and non-tariff barriers.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Baroness Denton of Wakefield)All these issues are under negotiation in the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations in GATT, to whose early completion the Government are wholly committed. We do indeed seek to improve market access for developing countries. The Community has made a proposal for substantial improvement of access for tropical products, and has itself already made a start. Most developing countries also benefit from the Community's Generalised System of Preferences and the Lome Convention. The removal of tariff escalation and of non-tariff barriers are major objectives of the Uruguay Round which we share.