WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(05)/ST/48 
15 December 2005 
 (05-6013) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Sixth Session Hong Kong, 13 - 18 December 2005 Original:   Spanish 
 
  
PARAGUAY 
 
Statement by HE Mrs Leila Rachid
 
Minister for Foreign Relations  
  
Some months ago, US President George W. Bush  declared before the United Nations that the 
United States stood ready to eliminate tariffs, subsid ies and other barriers in order to achieve the free 
flow of trade in goods and services. 
A year ago, in September 2004, in this same context (the World Food Summit), leaders of 
European powers undertook before the Heads of Stat e and Government of developing countries to do 
their utmost to eradicate hunger and poverty, consid ered to be the worst scourges to afflict humanity. 
The pronouncements by the United States and the European Union together
 constitute the 
raison d'être of the Doha Development Agenda. 
Nevertheless, the negotiations under this Round, which contain an implicit promise to raise 
living standards worldwide and alleviate poverty th rough the removal of trade distortions, may well 
collapse or achieve only a fraction of their potential. 
Progress in these negotiations has been slow and poor since the very outset.  The 
enthusiastically rhetorical speeches often deliver ed under this roof bear little relation to the 
intransigent stance taken by the leading actors on the stage of multilateral trade. 
We are a long way from achieving the objectives which we set ourselves and proclaimed in 
July 2004. 
Paraguay, a developing and land-locked country, is attending this Conference with a view to 
working towards an improved multilateral trading system and to campaigning for fair treatment which takes into consideration the specificities,  vulnerabilities and size of the economies of its 
Members. 
However, the work that my country and the other developing country Members of this 
Organization strive to promote is failing to fi nd support from nations with greater possibilities of 
influencing the final results of the Round. 
The agriculture negotiations, a key element in th e framework of the "single undertaking", not 
only have been deadlocked for some time, but also  seem to tend to create new forms of protection and 
discrimination. 
This situation is tangible evidence of the unwillingness on the part of our main trading 
partners to reach our development goals. WT/MIN(05)/ST/48 
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 Very little remains of the original intention to  reach an agreement on full modalities here in 
Hong Kong. 
On the very eve of this Conference, we are in fact forced, once again, to reduce its levels of 
ambition or, as the Director-General of this Organization stated, to "recalibrate" our expectations, since the poverty of the offers submitted by the major exponents of the developed world has meant 
that any headway is impossible. 
The Doha Round was baptized the "Development Round" in honour of the absolute necessity 
to raise the living standards of the majority of the in habitants of this planet.  This need still exists 
today and must be urgently met. 
Changing times always bring new situations, new problems and new challenges in their wake, 
but they also give rise to new opportunities. 
The Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset, in  his famous work "El tema de nuestro 
tiempo" ("The Modern Theme"), developed the theory that each period of history is characterized by a 
different issue and that the mission of our leaders is to detect this issue opportunely so as to address it 
appropriately and implement mechanisms to  overcome the challenges which it presents. 
If one issue takes precedence over all others nowad ays, it is development.  Never before in 
history have so many people possessed more than they  can ever consume while so many others live in 
poverty, unable to meet even their own basic need s.  Never before have so many unnecessary items 
been consumed while so many lack even the basic commodities.  Never has the gulf between 
developed and developing countries been so wide.  Ne ver has there been so much affluence, or so 
much poverty. 
The need for development makes itself strongly fe lt in most of our countries.  Poverty, the 
sign of our times, is the most radical and unqu estionable sign of inequality between human beings. 
Never before has poverty been so much a part of our  daily lives, given that, in a globalized world, we 
are fully aware of it;  our own eyes bear witness to it and to its colour, profile  and individual features. 
It goes without saying that we recognize the primary responsibility of each individual State 
for its own development.  However, now, more than  ever before, there is also a need for fair 
multilateral trade rules which allow each and every one of  us to interact in a fair market which is free 
of distortions. 
The multilateral trade negotiations must not theref ore continue to be treated as though they 
were "business as usual", but rather as a process with major implications for development in general and for human beings in particular. 
More developed nations have the opportunity to transform this Doha Round into a vehicle for 
delivering global welfare gains.  However, for this  desire to become reality, those responsible for 
giving impetus to these negotiations have to make  significant contributions which are capable of 
fostering global development and thus overcoming poverty in our regions. 
Let us today reaffirm the very same conviction as was stated in Doha four years ago.  We 
firmly believe that the World Trade Organization is  the context in which we can collectively foster 
development. 
This objective will, however, only be achieved by strong leaders capable of preventing what 
is referred to as the Development Round from leaving as its heritage the prosperity of a minority built 
on the economic decline and backwardness of the majority.  WT/MIN(05)/ST/48 
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 We must face the perils and challenges of our age together if we aspire to a peaceful and safe 
future where a human life, worthy of being so called, lies within the grasp of each and every 
inhabitant of our earth. 
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