. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
WT/MIN(11)/ST/76 
17 December 2011 
 (11-6640) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Eighth Session Geneva, 15 - 17 December 2011 Original:   Spanish 
 
  
URUGUAY 
 
Statement by H.E. Mr Roberto Conde Carreras 
Deputy Foreign Minister (Under-Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs) 
   We should like to raise certain issues that we regard as important in th e current international 
context, with particular reference to th e role of the World Trade Organization. 
 
 First of all, Uruguay wishes to reaffirm to this institution and to the world at large the 
importance which it attaches to a strong, balanced a nd rules-based international trading system that 
will promote international political stability, sustainable economic growth and will combat poverty at the global level.  
 Secondly, it wishes to emphasize the positive role that international trade has played in recent 
decades:  it has been an extremely important fa ctor in achieving growth for many developing 
economies, when it has acted in conjunction with  other domestic policy measures and with the 
existence at the national level of an appropriate productive, legal and institutional infrastructure. 
 
 Accordingly, it reaffirms the validity of the objectives set out in Doha and of the mandates 
and commitments undertaken in the course of these te n years of negotiations.  Uruguay continues to 
believe in the need for this Organization to achieve  a real balance of rights and obligations.  Unless 
we keep this aim in mind we shall not be able to maintain for long the political capital required to 
bring it to fruition.  Hence, the need to advance along the path set out by the Doha Development Agenda and ensure a level playing field. 
 
 The Doha Development Agenda was conceived - and its name makes that clear - as a process 
mainly aimed at achieving substantial results in market access for the developing countries. 
  In particular, agriculture was a field in whic h it was hoped to obtain greater concessions, in 
view of the meagre benefits granted in the Uruguay Round. 
  However, ten years of feeble efforts at negotiations have passed and the objective of 
Article 20 of the Agreement on Agriculture of achie ving "fundamental reform" of the system that 
supports the agricultural protectionism of the developed countries has still not seen the light. 
 
 Unfortunately, the impasse in the negotiations will almost certainly lead to the failure to meet 
the deadlines set in Hong Kong on the important subject  of the elimination of export subsidies, and to 
this must be added the discouraging signs coming from the recent plans for agricultural reform by 
some of the developed countries.  These reforms, I should like to emphasize, are not necessarily in line with the modalities on agriculture and that is a source for concern. 
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   Similarly, it is a fact that the difference be tween what is directed to production subsidies and 
export subsidies and what is currently  permitted, that is to say "the wa ter", is very considerable.  Thus 
without the Doha Round the policy space to continue to apply agricultural protectionist measures will 
continue to exist, while at the same time the discr imination to which agricultural trade is subject will 
be extended.  That, as is well known, will harm the interests of countri es such as Uruguay which 
largely depend on their agricultural exports. 
  In this connection, Uruguay wishes to reiterate its  view that the results achieved in agriculture 
will signify the success or failure of the whole ne gotiations.  It will be possible to approach the 
negotiations in different ways with different or innovative formulas, but Uruguay will continue to 
assert the central role of agriculture in any pr ocess to implement the Doha Development Agenda. 
  That being said, we recognize that any negotiations need to take account of different interests.  
Accordingly, Uruguay has been open and flexible;  it h as not sought to complicate the texts;  it has not 
demanded special clauses;  and has accepted intermed iate positions even if they were not favourable 
to it.  We shall continue to follow this path. 
  However, we shall continue to insist on the importance and relevance of the concept of the 
Single Undertaking which underlay the developmen t of the Uruguay Round of the GATT and which 
has been central to the negotiations of the Doha Development Agenda.  In fact, it is Uruguay's view 
that the Single Undertaking should be seen as a pro cedural rule designed to set a more ambitious aim 
for the final agreements - the balance between right s and obligations - as well as to prevent one group 
of Members from reaching agreement to the detrimen t of others.  Consequently, we do not believe 
that this valuable instrument has been responsible  for the current state of the negotiations, moreover, 
we believe that it continues to be the only way of achieving a successful outcome of the Doha Round, 
which continues to be our main objective. 
 
 However, Uruguay wishes to emphasize that it is not willing to turn the clock back nor to let 
these negotiations drift, since it is convinced that  a definitive breakdown of the current negotiations 
would entail important systemic risks and would create conditions in which, in particular, the smallest 
countries could suffer most.  
 Accordingly, Uruguay reiterates its determination to continue to act with a proactive spirit in 
seeking solutions in order to be able to achieve the agreement that we seek, and to bring about a 
successful conclusion to the mandate of the Doha Ro und in its entirety when circumstances so permit. 
  If that is to be achieved, there is an impera tive need to work on a transparent and inclusive 
basis and with the participation of all the Members.   Informal, expeditious and practical measures can 
be no substitute for institutional solutions.  The stre ngth of this Organization lies in the trust in its 
institutions.  And it is the trust in the institutions of this Organization which will provide us with the 
greatest reinsurance in the face of an unprece dented economic crisis with growing social 
consequences that are undoubtedly genera ting legitimate domestic political pressures. 
 
 In conclusion, we should like to welc ome Vanuatu, Samoa, Montenegro and the 
Russian Federation as new Members of the WTO.  
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