Ministerial conversation on trade and sustainable development, including trade and industrial policy space for industrial development

Dear colleagues,

WTO is facing the biggest crisis in its history. It happens just as the international community finds itself in dire need of stronger cooperation and multilateral engagement in order to meet the Sustainable Development Goals and promote a fair and just transition to a greener economy.

I came to Adu Dhabi straight from Rio de Janeiro, where Brazil, as president of the G20, hosted the first Meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Group in 2024. In the discussions regarding the agenda item “reform of the global governance”, virtually all countries argued that the reform of WTO is essential to the preservation of the rules-based multilateral trading system. Many also highlighted the dangerous consequences of failure in advancing these reforms, as the world turns more and more to protectionism and inward-looking approaches on trade. 

So, now, more than ever, effectively promoting sustainable development through trade would require more from WTO than a “business as usual” approach. It is not possible to envision a promising future while so many developing countries are still left behind, while so many people everywhere still cannot perceive, let alone enjoy, the benefits of our modern, globalized economy.

While looking to the future, we must all recognize the historical debt of WTO regarding the challenges from the past. First and foremost, promoting sustainable development in all its three pillars requires a strong element of justice, of fairness. In this regard, the African Group proposal on policy space for industrial development could be a good starting point for future discussions.

While all Members face challenges related to ongoing structural economic shifts, developing countries do so from a relatively much lower base. Nonetheless, many developed countries, which dogmatically oppose policy space for industrialization in developing countries, are the same ones unilaterally implementing, on a much larger scale, policies that clearly violate WTO rules, under the pretext of fostering a green transition.

We must avoid a subsidies and protectionism race that would completely discredit WTO and its capacity to act as a positive force for sustainable development and a fair and inclusive transition. 

Furthermore, as a developing country, Brazil is deeply concerned with sustainable agriculture as a tool for promoting food security and combating hunger, poverty and inequality. Here, too, WTO must prevent a subsidies race and the proliferation of protectionist measures under the guise of environmental and social concerns.

The long overdue agricultural reform, with more production and more trade, would be a significant catalyst for sustainable development and for achieving our SDGs, particularly in developing countries.

Finally, WTO’s ability to properly play its role is intrinsically linked to the restoration of a fully-functioning Dispute Settlement System, capable of guaranteeing the proper implementation of multilaterally agreed rules now and in the future and with a two-tier structure. 

Colleagues,

The pursuit of sustainable development implies a constant search for balance amongst its social, economic and environmental pillars. WTO must also try to find a balance, promoting growth, trade and technological exchanges in an increasingly complex global landscape, while at the same time embracing sustainable development and the need for a fair and just economic transition as core features of a renewed multilateral trading system.

Let´s set the ground work today for the future we want for the multilateral trading system.

Thank you.