Madam Chair,
Cuba thanks you for the opportunity to intervene on the Work Programme on Small Economies.
More than two decades after this mandate was adopted in the Doha Round, we must acknowledge that progress has been limited and has focused mainly on analysis rather than on the pursuit of concrete outcomes.
Recent economic reports show that small economies continue to face persistent structural obstacles: high trade costs, dependence on imports, and marginal participation in global trade—below 1%.
This clearly demonstrates that the current approach has failed to transform the conditions of integration of our countries into the global economy.
In this context, Cuba shares the concerns expressed that the Programme has evolved into a technical exercise, with emphasis on new areas such as digital trade or sustainability, without addressing as a priority the structural asymmetries of the system, including market access and existing distortions.
Similarly, there is a tendency to promote solutions based on “best practices” and service digitalization, which do not replace the need for concrete and differentiated commitments that respond to the specific vulnerabilities of these economies.
The new initiatives—including proposed decisions for MC14—continue to focus on integration through trade facilitation, without ensuring the necessary means of implementation, financing, technology transfer, and capacity-building.
Madam Chair,
The current shortcomings lie in the lack of political will to translate identified problems into practical measures.
This issue must be fully integrated into the core of WTO negotiations, pursuing concrete outcomes in terms of real market access.
Otherwise, we risk perpetuating a system in which small economies remain the subject of study, but not beneficiaries of solutions.
Thank you.