WT/MIN(24)/ST/42  
 
26 February 2024  
(24-1517) Page: 1/2 
Ministerial Conference  
Thirteenth Session  
Abu Dhabi, 26 -29 February 2024  Original: Spanish  
 
 
STATEMENT BY H.E. MR GERMAN UMAÑA MENDOZA  
MINISTER OF TRADE, INDUSTRY AND TOURISM  
COLOMBIA  
A fraternal greeting to the countries participating in this Thirteenth Ministerial Conference and our 
gratitude to the United Arab Emirates for hosting this event.  
There is no possible doubt. The truth is that the Multilateral System is in crisis and today more than 
ever it is necessary to outline a mandate that allows us to overcome new challenges. The World 
Trade Organization is the appropriate setting to resolve this problem.  
We must keep in mind that one of the main results of the Uruguay Round was the creation of a 
depoliticized Dispute Settlement System, which would ensure compliance with the commitments 
made by the countries in each of the A greements.  
Unfortunately, we have going backward towards a fragmented system, to a situation of deliberate 
unilateralism that undermines the agreements reached.  
It would be frustrating if in the final declaration of this ministerial we did not reach an Agr eement 
that restores the operation of this mechanism with an appeals body that facilitates the closure of 
trade disputes.  
Multilateral trade rules must reconsider their priorities. Health is a fundamental human right and 
cannot be subordinated to any inter pretation of international standards, such as the 
TRIPS  Agreement.  
Colombia considers that all the exceptions contained in the TRIPS are applicable to Public Health 
crises, since it is evident that, given the effects of the C OVID -19 pandemic and any simila r situation 
that occurs in the future it must take precedence over any consideration the fundamental right to 
life and health of human beings.  
After 30 years of non -compliance with the mandate on the collective and comprehensive review of 
the impacts of TR IPS at the global level, nothing has been done. This Ministerial must define short 
deadlines and objective methodologies for its review.  
And what can we say about the indolence to respond in the discussions taking place today at WIPO, 
to the need to link i ntellectual property rights to the claims that communities have over their genetic 
resources, traditional knowledge and folklore.  
Colombia considers that the WTO has not evolved substantively in relation to the main problem 
facing humanity, such as the cli mate crisis and the necessary decision to make the SDGs and 
COP agreements binding with the rules of international trade in matters of investment, intellectual 
property and circulation of goods and services.  
This Ministerial must expand the mandate of the Trade and Environment Committee with precise 
short-term objectives, goals and dates that define the roadmap, as well as the immediate elimination 
of unilateral and protectionist measures that threaten sustainability.  WT/MIN(24)/ST/42  
 
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  The WTO must support the decarbonizatio n processes of countries, not only with dialogue on 
compliance with the Fossil Fuel Non -Proliferation Treaty, but also by supporting exports of clean 
companies and production with renewable energy.  
Colombia demands from the international community, particularly from the developed countries in 
the WTO, a serious commitment to reduce and eliminate subsidies to the agricultural, industrial and 
service sectors, in a time horizon that cannot exceed 2030.  
Developed countries and large economies have implemented measures to support their industries, 
attracting investment to their States under economic incentives that distort global trade and 
investment flows, including increasing the already existing gaps in scientific and technological 
matters.  
Only the complete elimination of trade -distorting subsidies can ensure fair exchange. Failure to 
confront growing unilateralism puts at risk the necessary balance and the rules of the game of the 
multilateral system.  
When was the essential objective of prom oting the free circulation of factors towards the 
development of internationalization with a human face, sustainable and balanced, between 
developed and developing economies lost?  
It is necessary to recognize that the international leadership of the WTO is  weakening day by day, 
as it becomes engrossed in discussions about procedures, while avoiding substantive debates on the 
most urgent issues in world trade.  
The new protectionism manifests itself in unilateral measures, disguised in decisions that appeal t o 
national security or environmental protection and that become reality in trade restrictions and the 
unjust deepening of social or environmental dumping.  
We are fervent defenders of multilateralism. It is our hope that in this ministerial the real issues will 
be addressed to solve the growing unilateralism. We are going back to a disastrous past, where the 
absence of rules and the erosion of the system threaten its legitimacy and its founding principles.  
Do not doubt it, dear director and dear Ministers: o ur country seeks to strengthen multilateralism.  
We are deeply concerned that in this important forum we turn our backs on the solution of aspects 
such as those we have exposed, which threaten life, fundamental human rights and the sustainability 
of a poss ible world for new generations.  
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