Press release

Peru has been playing an active and constructive role as coordinator of the Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC) in the World Trade Organization WTO, a position it has held since the beginning of this year.

One of the main achievements of Peruvian coordination is that it has been able to reactivate, from a regional perspective, the dialogue with key actors of the multilateral trading system.

In this context, on 10 May, the Permanent Representative of Peru, Ambassador Luis Chuquihuara, led a fruitful meeting with WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, which addressed the initiative to hold a Senior Officials Meeting of WTO Members for the last quarter of 2023. to unblock negotiations in some specific areas and facilitate the necessary consensus for the next Ministerial Conference, to be held at the end of February 2023, in the United Arab Emirates.

On 12 May, GRULAC members, led by Peru, also held a meeting with the US Permanent Representative to the WTO, Ambassador María Pagan, to discuss in a frank and transparent manner the prospects and priorities for the 13th Ministerial Conference, particularly regarding the latest developments in the informal discussions on the reform of the Dispute Settlement System (DSB). as well as the prospects for agricultural trade reform whose mandate, established more than twenty years ago, is still pending.

Also, during the same session, GRULAC members had the opportunity to dialogue with Mr. Jorge Castro, from the WTO’s Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation, who presented the offer of WTO technical assistance activities.

Another example of the proactive role that Peru has been playing as regional coordinator, which has been recognized by several Latin American and Caribbean Missions, was the fact that it has managed to agree, at the regional level, on a joint request to the WTO Secretariat to elaborate a report on the negative impacts of agricultural aid on environmental and climate objectives in order to have greater inputs that are useful for progress in agricultural negotiations.

«We are very satisfied and recognized by all the countries of the region for the flexibility demonstrated that allowed us to reach a consensus to request the WTO Secretariat to request the aforementioned study» said Minister Pedro Bravo, Alternate Permanent Representative of Peru to the WTO, in Geneva.

This request agreed among more than 30 countries is a clear political signal that, despite the diversity of commercial interests in our region, it is possible to find unity and a common understanding with a view to moving towards an agricultural trading system.

Geneva, 12 May 2023.

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