38. The representative of Colombia shared New Zealand's concerns with respect to Hungary's statement concerning paragraph 18. It was precisely for purposes of fulfilling the mandate of paragraph 18 that her delegation was participating in the negotiations. However, the fact that Members like her country were participating in the negotiations and had co-sponsored document TN/IP/W/5 did not imply that they had already accepted participation in the future multilateral system. For this reason, her delegation supported the statement made by the delegation of Guatemala that participation in the system must be voluntary. It would participate in the negotiations in accordance with Article 23.4, although her country did not have wines like the European Union. Colombia had only about ten different types of wines, and not more than 10 or 15 types of spirits. That obviously was an imbalance, which implied that if Colombia were to take part in a system such as that suggested by the European Union, it would in fact be taking upon itself a burden of costs not commensurate with its production of wines and spirits.
