WT/MIN(17)/ST/76  
4 January  2018 
(18-0037) Page: 1/1 
Ministerial Conference  
Eleventh Session  
Buenos Aires, 10 -13 December 2017  Original:  Spanish  
 
  
STATEMENT BY H.E.  MR JOSÉ GREGORIO VIELMA MORA  
MINISTER  OF PEOPLE'S POWER  FOR FOREIGN TRADE AND INVESTMENT  
BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA  
We welcome the opportunity to  attend the Eleventh Ministerial Conference and reaffirm our 
commitment to building a robust, mutually supportive, fair and predictable multilateral trading 
system , based on common and transparent rules , that meets the interests of the world's peoples.  
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has progressively  become the victim  of economic war fare, led 
by imperial powers such as the United  States, which, contrary to all the rules of this Organization 
and despite commitments made under agreements such as the Tra de Facilitation Agreement, is, in 
practice, intentionally obstructing the normal development of economic and trade relations in 
countries whose governments do not defer to its policies and defend the sovereignty and interests 
of their peoples.  
We have come today to denounce the international financial blockade against our country, which 
has resulted in  the discontinu ation of operations of 19  correspondent accounts, thus preventing 
our population 's access  to food, medicines and raw materials.  
This blockade hampers  the transfer of funds to meet debt payment commitments and makes it 
difficult for our country to access the foreign currency necessary  for the development  of 
production . 
These unlawful sanctions, applied in a unilateral and arbitrary man ner, violat e international law 
and human rights . The United States Government is seeking to put an absolute stranglehold on 
Venezuela in an attempt to undermine  the population's economic and social life. 
Since the Bretton Woods Agreement,  incorporation into the GATT and then the WTO, 
the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, despite its critical and firm stances on world  trade relations, 
which give preference to goods  rather than to sustainable development, has always been diligent 
in meeting its obligations  under the rules of this Organization and has worked constructively to 
that end . However, the meeting  that brings us together today does not , unfortunately, have a 
mechanism for penalizing  Members , such as the United States , which adopt unilateral coercive  
measures that block a country's economic and social development . 
We invite all participants from this Organization to review th e report by 
the Central  Bank of Venezuela, which , as an autonomous  institution , the Bank  has entitled 
"Some Effects of the Finan cial Blockade against  Venezuela" . The report  describes our economic 
and social reality  as a result of these measures . Against this backdrop, our country reaffirms its 
support for multilateralism  and relations based on mutual respect and international law, and 
requests  that the Doha Round issues , which have been stagnating on account  of international 
bureaucracy , be taken up again with renewed vigour, so that we can contribute to facilitating 
market a ccess for the developing countries.  
 
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