WORLD TRADE WT/MIN(96)/ST/8
9December 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-5179)
Original: English MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Singapore, 9-13December 1996
BRAZIL
Statement byH.E. Mr.LuizFelipe Lampreia
Minister forExternal Relations
Allow meattheoutset tocongratulate youandtoexpress ourgratitude totheauthorities and
thepeople oftheRepublic ofSingapore, whohavespared noeffort toprovide excellent conditions
ofwork fortheparticipants oftheConference.
Iwould also like toexpress ourappreciation forthework accomplished by
Ambassador Renato Ruggiero asDirector-General oftheWorld Trade Organization. Hehasbeen
confronted withthechallenge ofensuring theefficient functioning ofournewOrganization, whose
mandate isfarmore encompassing thanthatoftheformer General Agreement onTariffs andTrade.
Thedegree ofimportance thatBrazil attaches tothisfirstMinisterial Conference oftheWTO
canbemeasured bythepresence ofthreeCabinet Ministers inourDelegation, aswellasdistinguished
Members ofourNational Congress andimportant representatives from theprivate sector.
During thepreparatory work fortheConference, weconsistently insisted thattheSingapore
Ministerial Conference should concentrate itswork onapriority basis onanevaluation ofthe
implementation oftheAgreements oftheUruguay Round andofthefunctioning oftheWTO.
Brazil evaluates positively thefirsttwoyears offunctioning oftheWorld Trade Organization.
Wehavefullyintegrated theUruguay Round Agreements intoourdomestic legislation andhavealso
adopted implementing legislation onanumber ofareas. Inorder toenhance coordination atthe
Governmentlevel,PresidentFernandoHenriqueCardosohasdecidedtocreatetheForeignTradeBoard,
directly subordinated tothePresident 'sOffice andcomposed oftheMinisters andsenior officials
responsible forourexternal trade.
Wehavefullyrespectedourcommitmentsintermsofreductionoftariffratesonamost-favoured-
nation basis. Asandwhen wewerecompelled toresort totheadoption oftraderemedies orsafeguard
measures, wehavestrictly followed therelevant rules enshrined intheWTO Agreements.
InBrazil 'sview, oneofthefundamental achievements oftheWorld Trade Organization lies
intheoperation oftheDispute Settlement Mechanism. Webelieve thatthefunctioning oftheDSB,
aswellasthatoftheAppellate Body, haverepresented asignificant progress inrelation tothedispute
settlement procedures under theformer GATT. Themechanism putinpractice intheWTO combines
thepossibility ofcreating jurisprudence withthesearch forcreative solutions between disputing parties.
Therelative automaticity intheprocess ofestablishing panels setforthintheDSU hasbeenamajor
incentive forparties inadispute toexplore allpossibilities ofsolving their differences through
consultation. Wemust insist onprompt andthorough observance oftheDSU rulings.WT/MIN(96)/ST/8
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Withregard totheunfinished business oftheUruguay Round, Brazil reaffirms itscommitment
tomodernization andliberalization inallsectors currently under negotiation. Wehavethustabled
meaningful offers onmaritime transport andbasic telecommunications. Inbothsectors, aswellas
infinancial services, wecontinue topursue comprehensive andcoherent legislative reform atthenational
level. Theresults achieved sofaratthemultilateral levelstress theimportance oftheideaofprogressive
liberalization. Given thatnotallcountries havestarted fromthesame point, notallofthemcanarrive
immediately atthesame levelofcommitment. Setting toohighobjectives nowwould onlyjeopardize
ourpossibilities ofsuccess.
AtMarrakesh weadopted adecision ontrade andenvironment which setupaforum for
discussing themutually supportive relationship between upholding andsafeguarding anopen,
non-discriminatoryandequitablemultilateraltradingsystemontheonehand,andactingfortheprotection
oftheenvironment andthepromotion ofsustainable development ontheother. Soon after, during
themeetings which Ihadtheprivilege tochair, stillatthepreparatory phase oftheWTO, aninteresting
discussion wasstarted, based ontheagenda defined intheMarrakesh Decision.
TheworkoftheCommittee onTrade andEnvironment, chaired byAmbassador Sanchez Arnau,
hasserved thepurpose ofraising awareness onthesynergies between trade liberalization andthe
promotion ofsustainable development. TheWTO hasthusstarted toplayitsroleinhelping tofulfil
thegoals ofsustainable development enshrined intheRioDeclaration. Inoneaspect, inparticular,
itcanpositively contribute toachieve sustainable development byeliminating traderestrictions which
affect developing countries. Wehopethatprogress insuchdirections canbepromptly achieved.
Iwould likenowtoaddress some specific issues ofparticular concern toBrazil.
Asaglobal trader withasignificant participation ofagricultural products initsexports
worldwide, Brazil urges thatthecommitments adhered tointheAgreement onAgriculture arefully
andtimely complied withbyallMembers. Inthisconnection, westrongly support thebeginning,
asof1997, ofsustained preparatory work within theCommittee onAgriculture toallow Members
toinitiate theexchange ofinformation necessary toprepare thenegotiations called forinArticle 20
ofthatAgreement. After having achieved thedifficult political taskofintegrating theagricultural sector
totherules ofthisOrganization, wemustsendaclear signal topublic opinion inourcountries that
agriculture isapriority inourfuture work. Atruly meaningful trade liberalization process must
necessarily contemplate stronger disciplines toreduce subsidies aswellaseffective andimproved market
access commitments. Sadly, weseethatpolitical willisclearly lacking inthese areas.
Clearly, wecanhardly conceive ofanyministerial declaration stemming fromthisConference
without astrong specific reference tothefuture work onthissector.
Theproposed inclusion ofsome newissues inthealready loaded agenda oftheWorld Trade
Organization deserves some further consideration.
Wehavealready indicated ourreadiness toaccept thecreation ofaworking group within the
WTO toaddress theissue oftrade andinvestment. Thisworking group should allow Members to
fullyunderstand alltheimplications oftherelationship between trade andinvestment. Weshallbe
prepared toengage infullnegotiations onanAgreement onInvestments andweconsider thatthese
should becarried outwithin theframework ofatruly multilateral organization suchastheWTO.
AsfortheroleUNCTAD could playinsuchprocess, Ibelieve thatcooperation between thetwo
Organizations would certainly contribute toabetter understanding oftheimplications ofanagreement
negotiated within theWTO, inorder toallow Members ofthisOrganization tomake asound decision
onhowtotackle theissue inthefuture.WT/MIN(96)/ST/8
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Brazil regards theproposed work oncompetition policy asthenecessary complement tothe
work intheareaofinvestments. Inthisconnection, wefavour thecreation ofaworking group to
address theexisting WTO rulesintheareaoftradeandcompetition andexamine theneedtostrengthen
disciplines onrestrictive business practices.
Asforgovernment procurement, wecould jointheproposal tocreate aworking group todiscuss
andnegotiate asetofprocedures andprinciples related totransparency ofgovernment procurement
practices onbidding andnotification ofprocurement opportunities byfederal (orcentral) governments.
Theworking group should report itsconclusions tothesecond WTO Ministerial Conference in1998.
Brazil hasnodifficulty whatsoever withthequestion ofobservance ofcorelabour standards.
Wehavesubscribed toasubstantial number ofInternational Labour Organization conventions that
dealwiththese issues. TheBrazilian Government hasdeveloped afirmandconsistent record inthe
observance offundamental human rights andparticularly intheareaoflabour standards. InBrazil
there arenolimitations orimpediments tothefreenegotiation between employers andemployees nor
tothecreation oflabour unions. Ourlegislation doesnottolerate forced labour orchildexploitation,
andisolated caseshavebeeninvestigated andpunished. Nonetheless, wefailtoseehowarules-oriented
organization suchastheWTO could tackle theissue ofensuring theobservance oflabour standards.
Brazil wishes tostress itsserious concern withthepossibility thattheprotection ofcorelabour standards,
which isinitself anultimate goaltobepursued byall,beutilized asa"scapegoat" todealwiththe
problem ofstructural unemployment inthedeveloped economies.
Webelieve thattheInternational Labour Organization istheappropriate locus toaddress the
issue ofobservance ofcorelabour standards andthatanystatement onthisissue bythisMinisterial
Conference should notenvisage anyfollow-up ofthisissue within theWTO.
Finally, Iwould liketoaddress theissueofregionalism inthecontext ofthemultilateral trading
system, taking intoaccount theBrazilian experience onthismatter. Brazil supports thework under
wayintheWTO toanalyse theimplications oftheregional trade agreements tothemultilateral trade
system. Webelieve suchanexercise willserve toclarify doubts raised bytheestablishment ofregional
trade agreements, more ambitious bydefinition thananymultilateral initiative.
Ourownexperience hasshown thatregional trade agreements canreinforce andbebeneficial
tothemultilateral trade system. MERCOSUL represents notonlyacommitment todeepen trade
liberalization butalso-andmoreimportantly -adecision toenhance political dialogue andcoordination
made possible, afterthere-democratization oftheregion. Theneedtointegrate ourcountries ina
globalized economy hasledustoadopt anopenformofregionalism, asevidenced bythesignificant
increase intrade withnon-members since thecreation oftheCustoms Union. Thisincrease -from
25to55billion dollars infiveyears -istheultimate proof oftheopennature ofMERCOSUL. From
thepolitical viewpoint, MERCOSUL represents onlypartofaprocess where other democratic
components arepresent suchasrespect forhuman rights, protection oftheenvironment andinitiatives
related topeace andsecurity. Wewillstrengthen anddeepen MERCOSUL while keeping itfully
compatible withtheWTO, which isthebaseline andthemainstay ofthemultilateral trading system.