PREFERENCE SYSTEM

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29828, 22 May 1962, Page 13

PREFERENCE SYSTEM

Changed Views Seen (N Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright) LONDON, May 21 “The Times" today claimed that one consideration that had ' weighed greatly in British thinking about the European Common Market had been the recognition that the Commonwealth preferential system had itself been changing. “This year’s congress of British and Commonwealth Chambers of Commerce, which opens in London today. occurs at a time of upheaval in Great Britain’s trade policy." it said. “For many years the Commonwealth chambers have been working within the system of Commonwealth preference If the Common Market negotiations now under way succeed, this system will be srpplanted. “In the Brussels negotiations it is the intention of the British Government to agree only to terms that effectively look after the interests of Britain’s trade partners ... the Commonwealth. “At the same time, one consideration that has weighed greatly in British thinking about the Common Market has been the recognition that the preferential system has itself been changing, being eroded away in the temperate areas of the Commonwealth and developed in the tropical and semi-tropi-cal areas as a source of aid. not as a system of mutual advantages ”