Havana, February 16 (RHC)-- Cuba affirmed that it is essential to continue defending the principles of multilateralism. It is imperative to guarantee a rules-based multilateral trade system that is respectful of each state's sovereign decision to choose its economic and social development system.

The permanent representative of Cuba in Geneva, Ambassador Juan Antonio Quintanilla Román, made that assertion at the special meeting of the General Council of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs highlighted on its website.

"Development has to be at the epicenter of the WTO's work. The Doha mandate is in force, although some members disagree with this assessment," Quintanilla Román stressed.

The Cuban representative added that the current situation generated by COVID-19 had reiterated the need to facilitate greater participation of developing countries in world trade.  There is also a need to solve the inequalities and imbalances that some of the existing multilateral trade rules entail, without forgetting the existing mandate to make the provisions on special and differential treatment operational.

Cuba reiterated its willingness to collaborate in the search for a multilateral trading system that responds adequately and effectively to the majority of its members' problems and that it is duly reflected in the negotiations' progress underway.