WT/MIN(17)/ST/42  
 
13 December 2017  
(17-6927) Page: 1/2 
Ministerial Conference  
Eleventh Session  
Buenos Aires, 10 -13 December 2017  Original: English  
 
STATEMENT BY MR PAULO FERREIRA  
SECRETARY OF STATE F OR TRADE  
PORTUGAL  
The world economy faces today new challenges. Our companies and citizens buy, sell, work and 
compete in a global context that is in a transition towards an ever more digitalized economy, with 
more integrated supply chains leading to deep technological tran sformations on the way how 
economic activities are carried out and economic agents interact among themselves. In this 
context, today a sustainable and rules based international trade system is even more vital in order 
to attract investment, foster economic  development, create jobs and also for sustainable 
development.    
WTO and the multilateral rules on trade have been, in essence, the response to protectionism 
which is still present today. But the world has evolved and also has global trade. We, as member s 
of the WTO, need to respond adequately to these changes, cooperating so that there is a more 
equitable distribution of the overall gains from international trade, across our societies and among 
all members.  
On the other hand, trade policy attracts nowad ays more and more interest from our civil society. 
And we must not ignore that the voices against the perils of globalization and trade have become 
louder.  
However, we should not fear globalization. On the contrary, we must create the necessary 
conditions  in order to be able to contribute to its configuration, so that globalization can mean 
growth, development, integration of our economies and its citizens.  
WTO should therefore continue its work, especially because the current times are difficult. We 
continue to need a strong trade negotiation forum that is able to provide a stable and predictable 
framework.  
Portugal as a state and as a member of the European Union has always supported the role of the 
WTO in defining an open and fair global trade system. We believe that the challenges we face 
today can only be properly addressed by the work and achievements of the WTO.  
The set of pillars of the multilateral trading system – the existing rules; the dispute settlement 
mechanism as well as the negotiating pi llar – have to be supported and reinforced.  
Although our bilateral and plurilateral trade agendas are relevant - Portugal remains interested in 
restarting the negotiations of the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) and the Environmental 
Goods Agreement (EG A) - the WTO should remain the backbone in setting the rules on the digital 
economy, services, investment and in addressing the concerns of SME’s for their full integration in 
global trade.  
The European Union and Portugal, as well as other Members of this  organization, have worked 
hard to table concrete proposals on several areas such as Domestic Support i n agriculture, 
Fisheries Subsidies, E -commerce, Domestic Regulation in services and Transparency.  WT/MIN(17)/ST/42  
 
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  Building on the results from Bali and Nairobi, I would  urge my fellow partners to engage 
constructively in the discussions in the following days and to contribute to achieving substantial 
results.  
We should leave Buenos Aires with our faith intact about the future of the multilateral agenda and 
with a strong  compromise about the future work that should be fulfilled in order to better protect 
and reinforce the multilateral trading system.  
 
We support a substantial Ministerial Declaration as well as an ambitious Working Plan for our 
future work at multilateral  level. For my country, it is paramount to strengthen the credibility of 
the WTO and the role of the multilateral trading system.  In this context, we are engaged with the 
accession of new members, namely with that of Timor -Leste as Chair of the Working Par ty for its 
accession to the WTO.  
 
Finally, I would like to thank the Chair of the Ministerial Conference for hosting us here,  in 
Buenos  Aires, and to the WTO Director -General for the intense work over these years.  
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