. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/AG/NG/W/47
5 October 2000
(00-4084)
Committee on Agriculture
Special SessionOriginal:  Spanish
THIRD SPECIAL SESSION OF THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE
28-29 SEPTEMBER 2000
Statement by Paraguay
It is with optimism that the delegation of Paraguay is attending this new meeting of the
Committee on Agriculture tasked with pursuing negotiations for a fundamental reform of agricultural
trade, independently of any other negotiations which might be initiated at a later date.  We are hopeful
as to the outcome for two main reasons.
First of all, because of the valuable contributions, which I shall refrain from listing
individually for fear of leaving one out, that have been made as a basis for these negotiations, and for
which we congratulate the delegations concerned.  We are also grateful to the Secretariat for its work,
thanks to which we have the information we require in our effort to place agriculture on an equal
footing with the other sectors covered by the WTO.
Secondly, because there would appear to be an awareness of the current state of the world
which should help to make it possible for us to reach understandings in the agricultural sector that
would benefit both the developed and the developing countries.  For instance, we have heard
statements from senior representatives of leading Members of this Organization, such as
Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission, in a speech to the United Nations General
Assembly of 8 September, who said:  "An age old probl em that is still with us is the gap between rich
and poor countries, or between the haves and have nots in our societies.  This is unjust andunsustainable.  It is an affront to decency, and a threat to world stability";  and he added, "The social
and economic development of the South remains vital to our own stability and prosperity".
The Cairns Group, to which Paraguay belongs, is submitting the domestic support proposal,
which the representative of Australia introduced in clear and precise terms on behalf of the wholegroup.  The aim of this proposal is to correct distortions in agricultural trade as well as in agricultural
production, which effectively leads to distortions in both.  Indeed, such distortions make it impossible
for countries with limited resources to provide dom estic support, export subsidies or export credit
facilities, so that they cannot be competitive with many Member countries which do grant trade- and
production-distorting domestic support.  It is essential that we should consider very carefully theeconomic and financial repercussions which often lead to an exacerbation of poverty, because this
distorting domestic support bars us from the markets which are of most interest to our countries.
We should remember that the basic principles of this Organization, and specifically of the
Agreement on Agriculture, are to avoid trade restrictions, and to avoid distortions in agriculturalmarkets, which is what we are currently trying to do, and, what is extremely important, to avoid
discrimination between developing countries themselves, along the lines proposed for the agricultural
sector in the Association Agreement between the EU and the ACP, in which a majority of
55 countries have access advantages to the EU, to the complete or partial exclusion of the
38 countries, including Paraguay, which do not enjoy these facilities.  These tariff advantages whichG/AG/NG/W/47
Page 2
developed countries grant to agricultural products from many countries constitute preferential
treatment that is inconsistent with Article 1 of the GATT 1994, which does not accept discrimination.
In our view, all the proposals thus far submitted in this Session of the Committee on
Agriculture make some contribution towards reaching mutually beneficial agreements.  In spite ofwhat the distinguished representative of the European Communities said yesterday the only proposal
that is out of place, because this is not the forum in which to deal with it, is the proposal entitled
"Animal Welfare and Trade in Agriculture".  This is a forum in which we address human welfare and
seek equitable solutions which will enable the developing countries to overcome extreme poverty, to
find more resources for development and hence tackle poverty through enhanced market access, and
to boost the standard of living of their populations through improved education, health, housing,
employment and all the other human rights recognized by the international community.
I would like to finish by referring to comments made by the European Union's Trade
Commissioner, Mr. Lamy, in a speech to the International Labour Movement in Copenhagen, which
provide grounds for the optimism I spoke of at the beginning.  He maintained that the developing
countries must have enhanced market access, that there must be new WTO rules on investment, thattrade and competition must be facilitated and the rules governing them improved, and that the
industrialized countries, in addition to improving market access, needed to assist in the training of
persons involved in trade in the developing countries, in both the public and private sectors.  We fully
support this comforting and encouraging statement.  Let us seek to ensure that the domestic support
given by certain countries to their agriculture does not create distortions, that it does not negativelyaffect production in other countries;  that the indiscriminate use of support, whether we call it
domestic support, subsidies or credits, does not exclude the production of the developing countries
from world trade;  and that the efforts to help certain of those countries, however well-deserved, do
not result in discrimination which is both irritating and contrary to the WTO agreements.
These are our aims, and it is in this spirit that we shall participate in these negotiations.
__________