WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
WT/MIN(11)/W/4 
15 December 2011  
 
(11-6519) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Eighth Session Geneva, 15 - 17 December 2011 Original:   Spanish 
 
  
COMMUNICATION FROM THE PLURINATIONAL STATE OF BOLIVIA, 
THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA, THE REPUBLIC OF ECUADOR, 
THE REPUBLIC OF NICARAGUA AND 
THE BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA 
 
  The following communication, dated 14 December 2011, is being circulated at the request of 
the delegations of the Plurinational State of Boliv ia, the Republic of Cuba, the Republic of Ecuador, 
the Republic of Nicaragua and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. 
 
_______________ 
 
 
POSITION ON THE DOCUMENT "POSSIB LE ELEMENTS FOR POLITICAL GUIDANCE" 
 
 
I 
 
1. This Organization has been always characteriz ed by poor preparation processes conducted in 
exclusive small group meetings, as attested by th e Ministerial Conference in Seattle in 2000.  
As a consequence, the need to improve internal tr ansparency and the effective participation of all 
Members was raised in the General Council.  This  was subsequently reflected in paragraph 10 of 
Doha Ministerial Declaration.  Since then, howe ver, decision-making procedures that significantly 
undermine these principles have been maintained in the day-to-day work of the Organization. 
2. During the final and decisive stage of the pr eparatory process of this Eighth Ministerial 
Conference, such exclusionary and undemocratic prac tices have been reintroduced.  It is noted that 
increasingly sophisticated methods are used to preven t the participation of all Members and to give 
the appearance of an inclusive and consensual process.  Just a day be fore the formal meeting of the 
General Council of 30 November  2011, the unchangeable results of  a consultation process conducted 
in small groups were presented;  unchangeable becau se, according to those responsible, they reflected 
a delicate balance and could therefore only be ma de available for other Members' information. 
3. In practice, the WTO has become an organization that is not led by its Members, in which 
decision-making based on facts is not governed by consensus, and negotiation meetings are not open to participation by all Members. 
4. We reiterate that all work at the Eighth Mi nisterial Conference and from 2012 onwards must 
be open to the participation of a ll Members, and it cannot be assumed, in any circumstances, that one 
or more Members represent others.  Moreover, any document resulting from consultations conducted 
in small groups should be consider ed as another contribution, subject to amendment by any of the 
Members. WT/MIN(11)/W/4 
Page 2  
 
  II 
 
5. Trade is a tool and not an end in itself.  The Preamble to the Marrakesh Agreement 
Establishing the World Trade Organization, which la ys down the general objec tives of the multilateral 
trading system, confirms its strictly instrumental  nature.  Approaching it an any other way would 
irrevocably lead to a scenario of  extreme trade liberalization among economies with large differences 
in productivity and competitiveness and thus to the destruction of the productive base of developing 
countries. 
6. States have a positive role to play in stimul ating economic development, which goes beyond 
creating the conditions for the market to function properly.  All along the path to development, 
developed Members of this Organi zation have been pursuing and con tinue to pursue policies aimed at 
promoting economic restructuring and productivity grow th, that is to say, explicit public interventions 
in the economy. 
7. Therefore, in seeking to achieve prosperous, more egalitarian and stable societies, our 
countries, as developing countries, should have suff icient space for the application of such policies, 
and that space should be guaranteed in the multilatera l trading system.  More specifically, any regular 
or negotiating activity in the WTO and any interpreta tion of its Agreements should be carried out in 
the context of the wider economic and developm ent-related needs, policies and objectives of 
developing Members, as well as their external environment. 
III 
 8. The report by the Chairman of the General Council, "Elements fo r Political Guidance" 
(WT/MIN(11)/W/2), contains elements that inten tionally undermine the fundamental principles of the 
Doha Ministerial Declaration;  it deliberately fails to identify the causes of the impasse in the Round, 
and fails to point out the lack of political will to overcome them. 
9. For our countries, paragraph 5 of the sec tion on the "Doha Development Agenda" is 
particularly unacceptable, since the balance set out in paragraphs 45 and 47 of  the Doha Ministerial 
Declaration has been altered, thus sacrificing the prio rity of the principle of the "Single Undertaking" 
and facilitating the possibility for the large industr ialized economies to determine the future WTO 
agenda.  Our countries continue steadfastly to promote compliance with the Doha Development 
Agenda in the work of the Organization and to uphold the validity of the "Single Undertaking" 
principle. 
10. According to the Doha Ministerial Declarati on, the conclusion of the negotiations and the 
entry into force of the outcome of the Round are part s of a single undertaking.  This principle ensures 
an overall balance in the outcome of the nego tiations, to the benefit of all participants. 
11. Only a single exception has been considered:  paragraph 47, which can only be interpreted 
within the framework of the Doha Declaration itsel f and must be understood as an instrument devoted 
primarily to implementation-related issues and c oncerns - which have been assigned the utmost 
importance under paragraph 12 - and to the needs and interests of developing countries, which 
paragraph 2 of the Ministerial mandate seeks to place "... at the heart of the Work Programme 
adopted ..." in Doha.  Therefore, there can be no room  for reinterpretations that violate the principle of 
the single undertaking. 
12. In addition, paragraphs 4, 5 and 6 of the se ction on the "Doha Development Agenda" can be 
interpreted to reflect a bias in favour of the nego tiation of plurilateral agreem ents, to the detriment of 
multilateralism, favouring the interest s of developed countries in partic ular or the inclusion of new  WT/MIN(11)/W/4 
 Page 3 
 
 
  topics, without having first resolved the imbalanc es in the international trade rules generated in 
previous rounds and the priorities of development. 
13. Consequently, the stage is set for the progressi ve marginalization of development issues, 
leading to a new round of trade negotiations in the medium term. 
IV 
 
14. We reaffirm the crucial importance of the de velopment dimension in all WTO work and the 
importance of continuing the Doha Development R ound with a view to reaching a conclusion that 
ensures that developing countries secure a share of growth in international trade commensurate with 
the needs of their economic development. 
15. To this end, it is essential to preserve multila teralism and the single undertaking, without the 
inclusion of new topics, plurilateral initiatives or reinterpretations of the mandate of the 
"Doha Development Agenda". 
V 
 16. For all of the above reasons, our countries consider that the document entitled "Possible 
Elements for Political Guidance" (WT/MIN(11)/W/2 ) represents only the opinion of some Members 
and we therefore dissociate ourselves from the consensus,  in particular with regard to paragraphs such 
as 4, 5 and 6 of the section on the Doha Development Agenda. 
17. Finally, we consider that the document "Possible Elements for Political Guidance" 
(WT/MIN(11)/W/2) is void of any legally binding eff ect for the Members, given the fact that it has 
been presented under the sole responsibility of the Chairman of the General Council. 
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