./.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/MIN(99)/ST/49
1 December 1999
(99-5269)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Third SessionSeattle, 30 November - 3 December 1999Original:  Spanish
PARAGUAY
Statement by H.E. Dr. Guillermo Caballero Vargas
Minister, Economic Advisor of the Presidency
The delegation of the Republic of Paraguay would like to congratulate Your Excellency on
your election as Chairperson of the Third Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization
and would like to thank the Government of the United States and the city of Seattle for its hospitality
in hosting our debates.
Our delegation has come to this Ministerial Conference with great expectations, conscious of
its crucial importance for the future of world trade and for the economic development of our countries
and the welfare of our peoples.  History has shown that the successive rounds of multilateral trade
negotiations of the GATT/WTO have been important milestones in the evolution of the trading
relationship among all the countries of the world and, consequently, of the transformations inmankind's way of life.  It is quite rightly believed that the implementation of the results of the
Uruguay Round played a decisive role in the advent  of the so-called globalization of the economy, a
phenomenon that affects the lives of most of the human beings that inhabit the planet.
However, the Paraguayan delegation is also attending this Conference with grave concerns,
mainly because the world economy and world trade do not appear to bear the slightest resemblance to
what was intended in Marrakesh to give effect to the agreements of the most recent round.  The maintrading partners within the WTO have used to their advantage the very smallest concessions that we,
the developing countries, have made with great sacrifice and with great hopes, but, in contrast, they
have not been capable of opening up their own markets to assist the development of our economies,
limiting themselves to the formal fulfilment of their undertakings, but blocking the entry of our goods
into their own markets by means of new and unfore seen obstacles.  And what is worrying us now is
that when the negotiations in a new round end we shall find ourselves in the same situation as today,
or perhaps in an even worse situation.  Is that to be the fate of the Millennium Round that we are
attempting to initiate today?
Paraguay has consolidated itself in recent years as a democracy through its respect for human
rights and all freedoms.  In Paraguay, there is full freedom to trade and to repatriate capital and
dividends;  there are no surcharges on currency transactions nor are imports subject to quotas or prior
licensing;  my country does not restrict the export of the raw materials that it produces;  it places no
obstacles of any kind in the way of trade and does not subsidize its exports.
Paraguay has sought to contribute to the expansion of commercial exchanges by joining the
Southern Common Market, where it has committed itself to the establishment of low customs tariffs,
the elimination of non-tariff restrictions and, in gene ral terms, to the facilitation of trade with all the
countries of the world.  As a reward for its effo rts, its traditional markets outside MERCOSUR have
gradually been closed as a result of new and more stringent requirements, to the extent that now60 per cent of its exports go to the markets of its partners in the customs union.  The benefits of the
Generalized System of Preferences in promoting our non-traditional exports have disappeared.WT/MIN(99)/ST/49
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Despite the promises that we have received in exchange for real concessions during our negotiations
on accession to the GATT, and despite the hard work and persistence of our Government, we have not
been granted the quotas for special cuts of meat.  What is the point of trade liberalization if it only
applies to the developing countries, while the markets of the developed countries remain closed to our
goods?
Paraguay is a country whose economy is based on agriculture, livestock raising and the
exploitation of its forestry resources.  Fifty per cent of its population works in these sectors, which
provide 85.5 per cent of its exports.  For very good reasons Paraguay, like the other members of the
Cairns Group, is calling for the total elimination of export subsidies and a ban on their reintroduction
in the future, together with the application of strict rules against all measures that distort international
trade in agriculture.  On the basis of a legitimate and well-founded interest my country is seeking tohave agricultural goods treated in the same way as the manufactured goods which it does not produce
itself but which it has to import.  Paraguay categorically rejects the new concepts invented so as to try
to justify the maintenance of the situation prevailing for agricultural goods in world trade, such as the
multifunctionality of agriculture, the precautionary principle, food security, animal welfare, etc.  Are
millions of farmers in the under-developed world to be sacrificed for the benefit of an infinitesimalnumber of rich people living in rural areas in the industrialized countries?  Can the beauty of the
landscape in a few countries possibly justify the abandonment of farming and the crowding of people
into poor shanty towns in dozens of other countries?  Do animals deserve better treatment than human
beings?  Must our peoples go hungry so as to ensure food security in the developed countries?
Paraguay considers that the application of Article 20 of the Agreement on Agriculture of the
Uruguay Round constitutes the floor of the process of trade liberalization in agricultural goods and not
its ceiling.  The reform programme that took its first timid and confused steps with the Agreement on
Agriculture should carry on beyond the conclusion of the period of implementation at the end of the
year 2000 and the new round that is about to begin should lead to a substantial expansion of thatprocess, so that at the end of its period of implementation the same rules and the same exceptions are
applied to agricultural goods as to manufactured goods.  The attainment of such an objective does no
more than give to the poorest countries the justice of which they have been deprived for so long.
Paraguay believes that new levels of fairness can only be achieved if the differential and more
favourable treatment of the developing countries is expressed in the form of concrete measures that
are subject to verification and quantifiable evaluation.  Despite the constant mention of differentialand more favourable treatment for the under-developed countries, the mere observation of the facts
leads us to conclude that so far the only beneficiaries of more favourable treatment have been the
industrialized countries, inasmuch as the multilateral trading system has allowed them to exclude
agricultural goods and textiles from its rules, so that they can establish rules of their own with a view
to promoting their own economic development.  Faced with the failure of the measures adopted at theUruguay Round for the benefit of our countries, the Millennium Round will need to seek other ways
that will help to provide us with effective and ef ficient mechanisms to enable us to benefit from  our
participation in world trade, while supporting our own domestic efforts.
Paraguay is once again ready to make its contribution to the complex exercise represented by
a WTO round of negotiations.  However, it will analyse with great care the terms of reference and the
means of implementing the process and will evaluate its results in the light of the principle that
"nothing is agreed until everything is agreed", so as to be sure that the extension of globalization does
not mean that there are only benefits for the richest countries and greater inequalities that act to the
disadvantage of the poorest.
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