WT/MIN(15)/ST/39  
18 December 2015  
(15-6761)  Page: 1/1  
Ministerial Conference 
Tenth Session 
Nairobi, 15-18 December 2015  Original: Spanish  
 
STATEMENT BY H.E. MR JUAN ESTEBAN AGUIRRE 
AMBASSADOR, PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE TO THE WTO 
PARAGUAY  
I should first like to thank the Government and people of Kenya for their hospitality and 
congratulate them on the excellent organization  of this important event. I also commend the 
Director-General Mr, Roberto Azevêdo, on his leadership and the determination he has again shown throughout the negotiation process. I also commend the Chairs of the General Council and 
of the negotiating groups for their unflagging efforts. 
Let me also congratulate the Governments of Afghanistan, a developing, landlocked country like 
Paraguay, and of Liberia on their accession to th e WTO. These accessions reaffirm the validity of 
this Organization. 
This is the first Ministerial Conference taking place in Africa – a fact that is of compelling symbolic 
importance. We have accompanied the post-Bali process and observed with disquiet the failure to 
adopt the envisaged work programme. We appreciate the efforts of delegations over recent 
months, but we cannot be content with them; we must deliver results to developing countries and more particularly to the least developed countries. 
My country maintains that the adaptation of the rules governing the agriculture sector must ensure 
the predictability of trade and enhance employ ment opportunities and the well-being of our 
populations, especially of rural dwellers. Paraguay is a landlocked developing country more than 80% of whose exports are agriculture-based and go mainly to developing countries. The food 
security of these producers, who make up a large proportion of our population, the possibilities for 
them to work and sell their products are already being limited by existing distortions, and we 
cannot accept additional measures. Paraguay does not employ measures that distort agricultural 
trade and rejects measures like the special safeguard mechanism and others that could affect the 
competitiveness of Paraguayan producers. 
We also advocate the elimination of export subsidies and measures with equivalent effect and we 
do not consider it right that we have to pay to remedy imbalances, which are offset by our 
outstanding debt with respect to industrial goods resulting from the Agreement on Agriculture. 
In the light of the foregoing, my delegation fu lly endorses the statement by the Cairns Group. 
To complement the sectoral efforts, my country needs additional conditions to ensure free, fluid 
and competitive trade, given its geographical lo cation. Paraguay therefore calls for the Trade 
Facilitation Agreement to be implemented soon. 
My delegation supports the structuring of a po st-Nairobi agenda that remains centred on 
agriculture sector reform. 
We reaffirm Paraguay's intention to continue wo rking towards the adoption of a work programme 
in favour of landlocked developing countries an d we fully support the statement adopted by this 
group of countries. 
Paraguay is firmly committed to exploring and suppo rting all lines of action that will maintain the 
WTO as the leading multilateral trade negotiation forum, consistently based on the building of fair, clear and predictable rules. 
Lastly, I wish to announce that the Congress of Pa raguay ratified the Trade Facilitation Agreement 
only minutes ago. 
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