. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
WT/MIN(11)/ST/30 
16 December 2011 
 (11-6584) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Eighth Session Geneva, 15 - 17 December 2011 Original:   Spanish 
 
  
PARAGUAY 
 
Statement by H.E. Mr Manuel Maria Cáceres 
Deputy Minister for Economic Relations and Integration 
  1. The delegation of Paraguay wishes to congratulate you on your appointment as Chairman of 
the Eighth Ministerial Conference and to extend a warm welcome to the WTO to Vanuatu, Samoa, 
Montenegro, and the Russian Federation which is  an important trading partner of Paraguay. 
2. My country attaches great importance to the strengthening of the rules-based multilateral 
trading system, in order to guarantee the necessary predictability, an essentia l factor for commercial 
operations. 
3. For an exporting agricultural economy like that of Paraguay, the development objective 
implies the elimination of agricultural distortions in  both developed and developing countries, so as to 
improve market access.  Otherwise, we shall conti nue to be confronted with the circumstances that 
have led to the present situation, in which our ag ricultural producers have to face subsidies which 
prevent them from earning a proper return on thei r output, thereby making it difficult to eradicate 
poverty in our countries.  At the same time, they act  as a deterrent to agricultural investment, often 
making it difficult to produce foodstuffs, and thus jeopardizing food security in many countries. 
4. Paraguay reaffirms that agriculture is the centrepiece of the Doha Round negotiations.  
For this reason, we cannot allow new topics to overshadow these negotiations.  It is essential to 
continue the overhaul of agricultural trade initiated in the previous Round, without which it will be 
difficult to resolve the structural problems affe cting us.  However much duty-free and quota-free 
access is granted to our products, the problem will persist and intensify. 
5. As a landlocked country with  a small and vulnerable econo my, Paraguay attaches great 
importance to the trade facilitation negotiations, especia lly in relation to Article V.  For this reason, 
the outcome of these negotiations must be a binding legal instrument which does not fall below the level of ambition of the GATT 1994. 
6. Landlocked status reduces growth by between 1 a nd 1.5 percentage points per year.  For this 
reason, in my capacity as coordinator of the landloc ked countries, I ask that account be taken of the 
specific problems and special needs of our group in the Doha Round negotiations, in Aid for Trade, 
and in cooperation and technical as sistance and accession negotiations, inter alia , with the aim of 
ensuring our effective integration in world trade. 
7. We cannot fail to express our disappointment that, after more than ten years of work, our 
negotiations have not yielded the expected results, esp ecially in view of the fact that development is 
the main objective of this negotiating round. WT/MIN(11)/ST/30 
Page 2  
 
  8. We urge all Members to continue negotiations on the basis of the progress already achieved, 
with a view to a single undertaking which covers all the areas of negotiation of the Doha Agenda, 
with special emphasis on the interests of developing countries. 
9. The negotiations should be continued in a multila teral, inclusive and transparent format.  
Accordingly, although my country respects and acknow ledges the efforts made by groups of countries 
of which it is not a member, it does not feel represented by them or bound by their decisions and 
recommendations. 
10. It is vitally important to give the WTO the necessary instruments to promote development, so 
as to have a multilateral system which generates ince ntives, especially for the small economies.  This 
is the approach that has been characteristic of  Paraguay's participation in the GATT and in the 
WTO system, in pursuit of fuller, freer and more transparent trade. 
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