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East Germany

Volume 657: debated on Thursday 5 April 1962

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asked the President of the Board of Trade what further steps he will take to provide increased opportunities for the export of British goods to East Germany.

The Federation of British Industries has recently concluded a new unofficial trade arrangement with the East German authorities covering the calendar year 1962. This envisages total imports of East German goods (inclusive of East German estimates of sales of goods on Open General Licence) of £9·1 million and total British exports of £8·4 million. These are the same figures as in the 1961 arrangement. Imports in 1961 totalled only £6·7 million, as many of the import facilities under the arrangement were not fully used. Of British exports to East Germany amounting to £8¼ million in 1961, £5½ million were in iron and steel, non-ferrous metals and basic materials, which are not covered by quotas, and many of the quotas for British exports agreed by the East Germans were not fulfilled.In the 1962 arrangement the Federation of British Industries have negotiated adjustments in individual quotas on both sides designed to facilitate a modest expansion of trade over a wide range of goods. In my view the facilities now provided are satisfactory in present circumstances and having regard to the fact that the amount of trade that can be done under bilateral arrangements of this kind is limited by the availability of sterling exchange.