NEW TRADE GROUP

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29058, 21 November 1959, Page 13

NEW TRADE GROUP

Establishment Expected (Rec. 10 p.m.) STOCKHOLM, Nov. 20. Seven nations will initial a treaty this afternoon to create a free trade area aimed at reducing European trade barriers, authoritative sources said early today. They expressed confidence that a last-minute hitch over the exiort of frozen fish fillets to Britain will be overcome.

The new trading region will serve a total population of some 9? million—compared with the 165 million of the six-nation European community with which Britain failed to negotiate a wider free trade area of about 17 nations. Ministers of Britain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Austria, Portugal and Switzerland met last night in an attempt to break the deadlock over fish exports which arose when Norway maintained that she could not agree to British compromise proposals, sources said.

Britain was understood to have proposed that if her imports of frozen fish fillets from the three Scandinavian countriea exceeded 20,000 tons a year, the whole tonnage would be subject to duty. But Norway claimed that only the excess tonnage should be dutiable, the sources said. The Ministers will meet again

this morning to continue discussion on the fish issue and other outstanding problems. These include:

Definition of the origin of certain commodities to determine whether they should be exempt from duty. How the “Outer Seven" convention should be presented to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.. All the “Outer Seven” members are also members of G.A.T.T.

The Swedish Commerce Minister, Mr Gunnar Lange, said he hoped the free trade association would be a step towards a wider association between European countries. He hoped this wider association would include the existing sixnation Common Market of France, Italy, West Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. ,