  
  
WT/MIN(22)/ST/127  
12 June 2022  
(22-4567) Page: 1/1 
Ministerial Conference  
Twelfth Session  
Geneva, 12 -15 June 2022  Original: French  
 
  
STATEMENT BY H.E. MS CLARA DELGADO JESUS  
AMBASSADOR AND PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE  
CABO VERDE 
The world has changed dramatically since the last Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires in 2017. 
On the one hand, we have witnessed economic growth that has helped reduce inequality and, on 
the other, the impacts of environmental degradation and climate change can no longer be denied or 
overlooked . Howeve r, many ongoing WTO negotiations have not yet  reach ed a successful conclusion 
since the Eleventh Ministerial Conference.  
 
The COVID -19 pandemic has again highlighted the growing inequality and development gap between 
developed and developing countries, esp ecially least developed countries (LDCs), landlocked 
developing countries (LLDCs), net food -importing developing countries (NFIDCs), small island 
developing States (SIDS) and small and vulnerable economies (SVEs), where income losses are 
expected to exceed  220 billion dollars.  
 
As we meet today at this Twelfth Ministerial Conference, twice postponed due to the COVID -19 
pandemic, we must not forget  the challenges and struggles these economies are facing in order to 
recover. In particular, tourism -dependent economies , which  have been hardest hit by the extended 
lockdowns and border closures, as well as the livelihoods and lives of the poorest of the poor in the 
global South. We therefore support the G90 declaration on special and differential treatment  (S&D)  
as a central tenet of the WTO system that should be preserved and strengthened. In order to ensure 
equity, S&D must remain an integral part of the WTO Agreements and be part of any deliverable at 
MC12.  
 
We hope that the protracted pandemic has led to clear  and progressive discussions on long -standing 
issues, and that this Twelfth Ministerial Conference reaches agreements on urgent matters, such as 
the pandemic response, fisheries subsidies negotiations and agriculture negotiations.  
 
Fisheries :  
 
Cabo Verde is a small island nation and the sustainable blue economy is crucial to its food security 
and livelihood. Therefore, regarding the fisheries negotiations, we support the position and rationale 
of the African Group in calling on WTO Members to ma ke commitments based on the principle of 
common but differentiated responsibilities, to: (i) eliminate subsidies for illegal, unreported and 
unregulated fishing; (ii) prohibit certain forms of fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity 
and overfis hing, and (iii) provide for special and differential treatment for developing and least  
developed countries in order to achieve the objectives set out in target 14.6 of the SDGs.  
 
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