. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/MIN(01)/ST/130
12 November 2001
(01-5745)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Fourth Session
Doha, 9 - 13 November 2001Original:  Spanish
PERU
Statement by H.E. Mr Jorge Voto-Bernales
Ambassador, Permanent Representative to the WTO
I thank the Government of Qatar for its generous hospitality as it plays host to this important
meeting and I congratulate it on the excellent organizational arrangements.
We welcome with satisfaction the entry of the People's Republic of China to the WTO,
certain that its presence, supported by many years of successful reforms and economic growth, will
strengthen the Organization and open up new and promising opportunities for all Members.
We also welcome the economy of Chinese Taipei, which brings its industrial strength,
innovative capacity and commercial dynamism.
Peru has come to the WTO Ministerial Conference convinced of the need to send a powerful
signal from Doha designed to strengthen the multilateral trading system.  We recognize and can attest
from our own experience that international trade has been the most important vehicle of growth and
world economic integration for many decades, though at the same time we observe that its benefits are
still proving elusive to vast swathes of the developing world.  The international economic situationcalls for a special effort to make this multilateral system more inclusive and participatory.
Developing countries need rapid quantitative and qualitative advances in order to improve
their development opportunities and thus diminish the major economic concerns, both internationally
and within our countries.  Trade can and must play a central role in this endeavour.
For Peru, agriculture is a key source of work and a means of integration into society.  As a net
food-importing country, Peru advocates the adoption of a special regime for developing countries that
takes account of poverty levels, rural development needs and food security in particular.  Furthermore,
to encourage and realize its export potential, Peru deems it a matter of priority and urgency fordeveloped countries substantially to reduce their domestic support to agriculture and move towards
eliminating all forms of agricultural export subsidies, as these distort trade and discourage production
in developing countries.
These measures must go hand in hand with improved and unrestricted access to the markets
of developed countries through the dismantling of quotas and the reduction of tariff peaks and tariff
escalation.  These factors are hampering the introduction and use of technologies and production
processes that would make it possible to give added value to resources of developing countries.
Fisheries is one of Peru's major production and export activities and we have an interest in
further developing fisheries exports on a sustainable basis.  We propose the elimination of subsidies
accorded by other countries to their fishing industries as they distort trade and lead to overcapacity intheir fleets and to overfishing.WT/MIN(01)/ST/130
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Peru wishes to underline that it belongs to the Andean Community, an integration scheme that
has also created new scope for cooperation and broader understanding amongst its five member
countries.
The WTO's new negotiating agenda must offer ambitious prospects for stimulating
development.  The developing countries are not at the same starting-point as the developed ones, and
those differences must be taken into account.  There are huge disparities in the conditions of
competition that work to the detriment of develo ping countries.  These are obvious not just from
macroeconomic indicators alone, per capita income for instance.  Amongst other areas, we face
disadvantages in basic services infrastructure, institutional and business management capacities, the
level of skills of human resources, technologies, transportation and in access to and terms andconditions of funding for production activities.  This is why special and differential treatment for
developing countries must be a central component of all agreements and disciplines, with the
establishment of more favourable terms and conditions, as well as intensified technical cooperation
programmes.
We welcome the recent opening of the Advisory Centre of WTO Law, which is an invaluable
means of support to developing countries in their trade disputes in the WTO framework.  We value
highly the determination and perseverance of its promoters as well as the decisive cooperation of
some developed countries that have made this possible.
This Conference is taking place in an international setting in which the world is faced with the
greatest of challenges, ranging from the sweeping changes being introduced by the new technologies
in communications, methods of production, trade an d financial flows amongst many other aspects of
human interaction and activity.
We are witnessing an international crisis amidst an economic recession the scale and duration
of which we do not yet know.  At the same time, however, we have the best mechanisms and tools for
successfully dealing with this situation and moving the world again towards recovery and stability.
This situation is an opportunity for reflection in order to better understand that just as the world stands
as one in times of crisis, it must also be equally unified when it comes to distributing the fruits of
progress.
We must not disappoint ourselves at this WTO Conference.  The multilateral trading system
is the most efficient vehicle for joining in world competition and a proven driver of development.  It
must be effectively placed at the service of social progress and the welfare of peoples, which after all
are the aims of expanded trade.  The launch of the development round will depend on the political
vision and will needed if we are to strike out successfully along the right path.
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