WT/MIN(22)/ST/70  
12 June 2022 
(22-4507) Page: 1/4 
Ministerial Conference  
Twelfth Session  
Geneva, 12 -15 June 2022  Original: English  
 
 
STATEMENT BY H.E. ARCHBISH OP FORTUNATUS NWACHUKWU  
APOSTOLIC NUNCIO  
HOLY SEE 
(Speaking as an Observer)  
At the outset my Delegation would like to thank the Governments of Kazakhstan and Switzerland 
for the organization of this significant Ministerial Conference. The highest body of the World Trade 
Organization has been reconvened after five years since its l ast gathering in Buenos Aires. Over the 
last two years,  the COVID -19 pandemic  has altered our way of life, called into question our economic, 
health and social systems, and ultimately exposed our human fragility . The war in Ukraine has only 
aggravated thes e challenges. In addition to the tragic loss of life, the devastating humanitarian 
consequences and the drastic forced displacement of people, the conflict has dramatically disrupted 
global supply chains, thus further endangering the capacity of countries – especially Least Developed 
Countries (LDCs) – to recover and relaunch their economies.  
By severely disrupting economic activities throughout the world, these crises have  extremely  
detrimental effects on international trade. There has been considerable h eterogeneity both in the 
timing and in the magnitude of the declines in trade flows across the globe. While a minority of 
countries is experiencing and implementing a recovery plan and exponential growth in wealth, the 
gap is widening to separate the vast majority from the prosperity enjoyed by the few.  
The pandemic seemed to  revive a sense of belonging to a global family, where one person 's problems 
were the problems of all.  Unfortunately, this spirit of fraternity  sometimes degenerated into a race 
for acc ess to treatments in record time, with a tendency to focus exclusively on national solutions. 
In some cases, this led to an individualistic approach that translated into economic policies and 
ideologies that defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and of financial speculation instead 
of seeking the common good.  
The trade agenda greatly reflects this approach with the stalemate in multilateral negotiations and 
the corresponding growing number of Regional and Preferential Trade Agreements. As reflect ed even 
in the negotiation process in preparing for this Conference, urgent action is needed to revitalize the 
World Trade Organization (WTO). Such action must come from this Ministerial Conference and be 
based on renewed multilateral dialogue on the use a nd effects of trade -distorting policies in both 
developed and developing nations. In this regard, Pope Francis has urged multilateral diplomacy to 
be based on "reciprocal trust and willingness to dialogue; it entails 'listening to one another, sharing 
different views, coming to agreement and walking together '. Indeed, 'dialogue is the best way to 
realize what ought always to be affirmed and respected apart from a ny ephemeral consensus. '"1 
Over the last twenty years of negotiation of the Doha Development Agenda, the international trade 
community has experienced two of the most critical economic and social crises. However, the 
fundamental consensus norm has been mi sused to resist multilateral discussion s of new policy areas 
and concerns regarding the functioning of the Organization. We all should be aware of the fact that 
 
1 Address of His Holiness Pope Francis to the members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy 
See, 10 January 2022.  WT/MIN( 22)/ST/ 70 
 
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  we currently find ourselves at a crossroads in multilateral trade negotiations and probably in shaping 
the future for the WTO.  
All WTO Members benefit from the rules -based trading system. Safeguarding the WTO is particularly 
important for developing and Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Despite the massive expansion of 
trade and investment in the l ast decades, effective integration into global trade patterns remains 
challenging for many developing countries . Free trade, set in an open and rules -based multilateral 
trading system, remains a key engine for growth and development. Only the multilateral trading 
system offers States the opportunity of participating in developing a juridical -economic system for 
a fuller understanding among peoples, and for social and economic development, especially of the 
poorest countries. As we have acutely experienced o ver the last two  and a half  years, it is becoming 
difficult to find local solutions for major global problems. If we really want to build a healthy world 
economy, what is needed at this juncture of history is a holistic approach founded on the promotion 
of the common good in a common home with common horizons.  
Trade and environment  
Trade must incorporate adaptation, which is so crucial for the LDCs, as well as mitigation, which is 
a primary objective for LDCs. While Member States  have devoted their attentio n to discussing issues 
in relation to sustainability, they must not  shy away from the need to account for carbon emissions . 
This features high on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 
negotiators ' agendas, namely, to ensure environmental integrity and to secure agreement on the 
creation of appropriate monitoring, reporting and verification frameworks.  
The Preamble to the Marrakesh Agreement emphasizes the need for "...expanding the production of 
and trade in goods and services, while allowing for the optimal use of the world 's resources in 
accordance with the objective of sustainable development, seeking both to protect and preserve the 
environment and to enhance the means for doing so. " While clima te adaptation remains a priority 
for developing countries, greenhouse emissions in traded goods and services account for only 27% 
of global carbon emissions. This indicates that trade policy has a consequential but limited scope in 
contributing to and mana ging a global green growth agenda. Indeed, trade policy can serve only a 
complementary role for attaining environmentally sustainable growth. Rather than building a trade 
and environment agenda on trade liberalization, making the most of the coherence betw een special 
and differential treatment (SDT) and the UNFCCC principle of 'common but differentiated 
responsibilities ' (CBDR) may offer a better point of departure for a development -oriented approach 
to the trade -climate nexus. A robust approach to SDT and CBDR would widen non -reciprocal SDT 
measures to expand policy space for climate and development initiatives. A limited climate waiver 
of WTO trade and environment rules combined with a 'peace clause ' for disputes on trade -related 
environmental measures of developing countries could be one route forward.  
WTO and COVID  
In the Encyclical Letter Laudato si ', Pope Francis recalls the troubling extent of exclusion in our 
world. "[T]here is little in the way of clear awareness of problems which especially affect the 
excluded. Yet, they are the majority of the planet 's population "2. Our focus must thus remain strong 
and we must remain unwavering in our commitment to leaving no one behind and to building a more 
sustainable world by 2030.  
In the context of the current global crises , it is important for the international community as a whole, 
and for WTO Members in particular, to work together to ensure that intellectual property rights do 
not create any barrier to the timely access to afford able and safe medical products, including 
vaccines and medicines, or any hindrance to scaling -up of research, development, manufacturing 
and supply of medical products essential to combat COVID -19. As experienced over the last months, 
access to essential m edicines no longer represents a challenge just for the Least Developed and 
other developing countries; it has also become an increasingly urgent issue for developed countries.  
As we are all aware, health is a fundamental human right, essential for the exe rcise of many other 
rights, and it is necessary for living a life in dignity. The realization of the right to health should be 
a fundamental goal of national policies and programmes, regardless of respective economic, social, 
 
2 Pope Francis, Encyclical Letter Laudato si’ , para. 49  ; cf. para. 51.  WT/MIN( 22)/ST/ 70 
 
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  cultural, religious or politic al contexts. However, for millions of people around the world, the access 
to treatments and vaccines remains an elusive goal, due in part to intellectual property obstacles. 
This constitutes a challenge to the flourishing of human dignity, which represents  the basis of all 
human rights, including the right to life, health and the integral development of the human person. 
For this reason, Pope Francis has affirmed that "it is appropriate that institutions such as the World 
Trade Organization and the World In tellectual Property Organization adapt their legal instruments 
lest monopolistic rules constitute further obstacles to production and to an organized and consistent 
access to healthcare on a global level ".3  
The Holy See welcomes, therefore, the formal an d informal negotiations that have taken place over 
these past months, in an effort to arrive at a compromise solution to the intellectual property aspects 
relating to the WTO response to the pandemic. Nonetheless, it is essential to ensure that any 
comprom ise be effective, comprehensive and implementable. Only by placing the common good of 
all before the national and private interests of individuals, in a spirit of international solidarity, can 
such a solution be found.  
Fisheries  
The Holy See also welcomes the progress that has been made on coming to a consensus on Fishery 
Subsidies, after two decades of discussion on the matter. Fishing has great potential to boost growth, 
employment and food security for a number of developing countries and LDCs with inlan d and coastal 
fish resources. Fishing improves exports and can contribute to efforts to diversify, provided that the 
supply -side and demand -side constraints facing the sector in LDCs are effectively addressed. In 
particular, it requires LDCs and their deve lopment partners to view the fishery sector from economic, 
social and environmental perspectives. In this regard, the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for 
Sustainable Development and, in particular Sustainable Development Goal 14, remain significant. 
We a re called to take concrete actions for disciplined production and export -distorting fishery 
subsidies, as well as subsidies that contribute to overfishing and illegal, unreported and unregulated 
(IUU) fishing activities, while ensuring the exemption of LDC s from any reduction commitments that 
are not consistent with the level of their socioeconomic development.  
Agriculture  
The combination of persistent and emerging constraints on the current state of food security makes 
the right to food all the more import ant. This has become still more urgent in light of the Russian -
Ukrainian conflict, two countries which before the war provided for 30% of the world 's wheat exports.  
The abandonment of agricultural fields due to military aggression, the enormous damage caus ed to 
crops, the absence of agricultural labor due to the displacement of entire populations, the destruction 
of natural resources and infrastructure are unjustifiable facts that concern the Holy See. This in turn 
causes deterioration in the supply chains,  has repercussions on the increase in the prices of food 
and raw materials, and threatens to generate new tensions of a social nature due to the scarcity of 
food, especially for the poorest strata of the population. The disastrous spiral unleashed is thus 
affecting the most needy people on earth, who live mostly in rural areas and are increasingly affected 
by the expansion of the unequal distribution of natural resources and raw materials, with the 
consequent worsening of the levels of extreme and moderate poverty and the escalation of hunger.4 
There is no doubt , therefore,  that trade policy needs to be advanced from a right -to-food 
perspective. Integration of the Developing countries and LDCs in global food value chains is a key 
requirement for ensuring food security and economic development in today 's globalized world. The  
COVID -19 pandemic has also led to shorter supply chains, thereby reducing especially South -North 
trade. This trend reinforces the importance of global cooperation for an uninterrupted global food 
supply. There is no time to lose in reigniting multilateral  policy coordination for agricultural trade 
from a right -to-food perspective, so that food insecure countries can pursue a recovery policy mix 
that meets local food production and consumption needs. The Holy See considers the removal of the 
existing limita tions, imbalances and asymmetries of the Agreement on Agriculture to be a priority in 
light of the right -to-food imperative. Member States ought to  consider not to impose export 
 
3 Address of His Holiness Pope Francis to the members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy 
See, 10 January 2022.  
4 Cf. Discurso de Monseñor Fernando Chica Arellano, Observador Permanente de la Santa Sede ante la 
FAO, el FIDA y el PMA, en el 33° Pe ríodo de Sesiones de la Conferencia Regional de la FAO para Europa  (Łódź, 
Polonia, 10 -13 de Mayo de 2022).  WT/MIN( 22)/ST/ 70 
 
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  restrictions on essential foodstuffs destined to food -deficit developing count ries, including net food -
importing developing countries, and on food aid to countries in an emergency situation.  
The sense of belonging to a single human family is nowadays disappearing, and "the dream of 
working together for justice and peace seems an out dated utopia. What reigns instead is a cool, 
comfortable and globalized indifference, born of deep disillusionment concealed behind a deceptive 
illusion: thinking that we are all -powerful, while failing to realize that we are all in the same boat ".5 
Multilateral agreements on fisheries subsidies and agriculture, together with an effective and robust 
solution to  the TRIPs waiver, would send a powerful signal that the WTO can continue to provide 
certainty and predictability to global trade for the next 25 ye ars. Failure to agree would call the 
effectiveness of the WTO into question. This Conference marks a key decision point for the direction 
of the post -COVID global economy. Members, in deliberating the decisions at this Ministerial 
Conference, have the oppo rtunity to react to the ongoing shocks with renewed cooperation, leading 
to shared growth and resilience; if this opportunity is squandered, global trade is likely to move 
further on the path towards costly fragmentation. The Holy See, according to the nat ure of its 
engagement in this Organization as well as in other multilateral fora, consistently calls for renewed 
cooperation and solidarity, inspired by a sense of human fraternity. If we fail to deliver an ambitious 
meaningful post -MC12 Agenda, we will no t lose just another opportunity, but the role and the 
credibility of the WTO itself will inevitably be questioned. The loss of the WTO as a n effective  
negotiating forum, of course, would have the greatest impact on the smallest and the poorest 
economies. A s shown by plurilateral agreements and mega regional trade agreements, large 
countries will always have options. The world is looking to this Conference as a turnaround in trade 
talks, so that the WTO can regain its central role in addressing new problems,  seizing new 
opportunities, and, most importantly, providing tools to end poverty for all.  
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5 Pope Francis, Encyclical Letter Fratelli Tutti , para. 30.