WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(09)/ST/26 
1 December 2009 
 (09-6074) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Seventh Session Geneva, 30 November - 2 December 2009 Original:   Spanish 
 
  
SPAIN 
 
Statement by Ms Silvia Iranzo Gutiérrez
 
Secretary of State for Trade  
  
General Considerations 
 
• I would like to thank the Chair of the Conference, Mr Andrés Velasco, and our hosts 
for organizing this Ministerial Conference. 
• I also wish to extend a warm welcome to the countries that have completed their 
process of accession to the Organization since the last Session of the Ministerial Conference, that is, Tonga, Ukraine and Viet Nam. 
• We are meeting here in Geneva almost at th e close of 2009.  This past year has been 
marked by a crisis that has led to a sharp deterioration in the gl obal economic climate, 
with an ensuing slow-down in world growth and a contraction in the volume of trade.  
In spite of this situation, the internati onal system has proved capable of generating a 
collective and coordinated response, and the WTO in particular has shown itself to be 
an effective "containing wall" in preventing a surge of protectionism. 
The Role of Trade and Public Opinion 
 
• International trade has, unexpectedly, cont racted much more quickly than global 
GDP, with which it is closely interrelated. 
• Spain is attending this WTO Ministerial C onference firmly convinced of the need to 
defend the role that international trade can  play in economic recovery.  As trade 
officials, we are duty-bound to pass on to the citizens of our respective countries the message that opening up trade is vital for recovery.  This message must be taken up 
by public opinion so that people can unde rstand and accept the trade liberalization 
decisions that we adopt as a result of our negotiations. 
The Doha Round and Aid for Trade 
 
• Our economic operators need not only a pred ictable environment in which to take 
strategic decisions, but also additional and bette r rules in order to be able to enjoy the 
benefits of the multilateral trading system.  The response to this need is directly 
linked to the conclusion of the Doha R ound.  The international community must 
respond to the G-20 mandate and meet in ear ly 2010 to take stock of the negotiations, 
in the hope that it will be possible to r each agreement during the course of the year. WT/MIN(09)/ST/26 
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  • Reaching agreement in the Doha Round woul d also pave the way for greater and 
better integration of the developing countries in international markets. 
• Trade must, in effect, form part of these countries' development strategies.  In this 
respect, they can rely on Spain's support to help them generate the productive capacity they need to generate wealth  and take responsibility for their own 
development policies.  Despite the current financial crisis, Spain allocates 
considerable resources to Aid for Trade and will continue to do so. 
• We know that Aid for Trade is not con tingent upon the conclusion of the Doha 
Round, but there is no doubt that it would have a much greater impact if it were accompanied by a global, balanced and ambitious agreement. 
Benefits of the Multilateral Trading System 
 
• Spain hopes that this Ministerial Conferen ce will serve to uphold the benefits of the 
multilateral system.  At present, there is no alternative to this system and we must 
therefore exploit the potential it still offers, which is considerable.  I would like to 
outline some of these areas of potential. 
The Functioning of the WTO 
 
• Steps taken to make regional trade agreem ents and multilateral agreements mutually 
reinforcing and to improve the transparency  and notification of regional agreements 
will bring further gains. 
• From this rostrum, we also wish to defe nd the liberalization of environmental goods.  
Agreement on this matter would send out a very positive signal, provided that a 
critical mass of Members were involved. 
• Processes to facilitate private-sector par ticipation in the accession to the WTO of 
least developed countries will have a positive impact on the system as a whole.  In this regard, Spain has made a contri bution to the recently established joint 
WTO-International Trade Centre programme  for building up the trade capacity of 
LDCs in the process of accession. 
• The Trade Policy Review Mechanism has so far proved very useful and we must 
continue working to enhance its information and monitoring tasks. 
• Lastly, the review of the Dispute Set tlement Understanding must be concluded 
successfully in order to ensure gr eater efficiency and transparency. 
Spanish Presidency of the European Union 
 
 In four weeks, Spain will assume the presidency of the European Union.  We will be taking over from Sweden and it will be our task to help ensu re that the European Union's role in the world 
economy is represented in a responsible manner.  Not for nothing does the EU account for 19 per cent 
of world trade. 
  WT/MIN(09)/ST/26 
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   I would like to conclude by expressing the hope that the discussions over the next few days 
will be fruitful, thus proving that the 153 Members of the WTO are ready to continue moving forward 
along the multilateral path.  
 
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