From a statement (Word doc) by Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Venezuela at the WTO Ministerial:
5. Trade is a tool and not an end in itself. The Preamble to the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, which lays down the general objectives of the multilateral trading system, confirms its strictly instrumental nature. Approaching it in any other way would irrevocably lead to a scenario of extreme trade liberalization among economies with large differences in productivity and competitiveness and thus to the destruction of the productive base of developing countries.
6. States have a positive role to play in stimulating economic development, which goes beyond creating the conditions for the market to function properly. All along the path to development, developed Members of this Organization have been pursuing and continue to pursue policies aimed at promoting economic restructuring and productivity growth, that is to say, explicit public interventions in the economy.
7. Therefore, in seeking to achieve prosperous, more egalitarian and stable societies, our countries, as developing countries, should have sufficient space for the application of such policies, and that space should be guaranteed in the multilateral trading system. More specifically, any regular or negotiating activity in the WTO and any interpretation of its Agreements should be carried out in the context of the wider economic and development-related needs, policies and objectives of developing Members, as well as their external environment.
Is this a radical critique of the trade regime as it stands now, or simply a description of how things generally function in most economies? What kind of public intervention do they want to undertake that is constrained by existing WTO rules?
