WT/MIN(24)/ST/18  
26 February 2024  
(24-1448) Page: 1/2 
Ministerial Conference  
Thirteenth  Session  
Abu Dhabi, 26 -29 February 2024  Original: French  
 
STATEMENT BY H.E. MS ALIMATOU SHADIYA ASSOUMAN  
MINISTER OF INDUSTRY AND TRADE  
BENIN 
Benin is pleased to take part in the Thirteenth Ministerial Conference and joins other WTO Members 
in extending  its sincere appreciation and deepest gratitude  to the UAE authorities for their warm 
welcome and successful  organization of this important event . 
 
Since MC12 , the multilateral trade negotiations have regained momentum under the leadership  of 
the Director -General, Dr Ngozi Okonjo -Iweala, for whom my country reiterates its full support. This 
Conference is an opportunity to build on the meaningful  results achieved in Geneva in June 2022 
and to make further progress in implementing the Doha Development Agenda.  
 
Over 20 years since its launch, the Doha Round , with the great and noble ambition of enhancing  
the participation of developing countries in the  multilateral trading  system, is still a long way from 
achieving success  and delivering on its promises . During this time, a succession of international 
crises occurring  at an unprecedented rate (health, economic, security, food, climate, etc.) have 
increased the vulnerability of developing countries, especially  least developed countries (LDCs), and 
exacerbated the structural  difficulties that were already impeding their integration into the global 
economy.  
 
In this context,  Benin wishes to solemnly reaffirm its alignment with  the positions of the principal 
groups to which it belongs that defend the needs and priorities of developing countries and LDCs in 
the multilateral trade negotiations, namely the G90, the G33, the ACP Group, the African Group, th e 
LDC Group, and, last but not least, the C -4. 
 
In the same spirit, Benin would like to:  
 
• congratulate Comoros and Timor -Leste  on their accession to the WTO, which will be 
ratified during this Conference and will strengthen the influence of developing coun tries 
within the Organization;  
 
• commend the progress made with a view to  the effective entry into force of the Agreement on 
Fisheries Subsidies , adopted at MC12 , and its necessary development into a comprehensive 
agreement within the framework of  the ongoing negotiations on outstanding issues;  
 
• welcome, as a co -sponsor of this initiative, the successful conclusion of negotiations 
concerning the Investment Facilit ation for Development (IFD) Agreement , the 
effective adoption of which during this Ministerial Conference and intended integration into 
the Marrakesh Agreement will enable greater participation by developing countries in global 
flows of foreign direct inve stment (FDI);  
 
• associate itself fully with the Draft Ministerial Declaration , proposed by China and a group of other 
countries, on strengthening regulatory cooperation to  reduce technical barriers to trade ; and 
 
• congratulate the Director -General for the la unch, in collaboration with the World Bank, of 
the "Digital Trade in Africa " (DTA) initiative to support the development of electronic 
commerce in Africa, and the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with FIFA to 
support, among other things, the deve lopment of cotton  value chains in the C -4 countries.  WT/MIN(24)/ST/18  
 
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Regarding cotton, the failure to reach a substantive outcome on the thorny issue of domestic 
support  after 20 years continues to destroy the efforts and hopes of our small -scale producers, who 
rightfully aspire to only one thing: to sell their cotton at a fair price on the international market and 
live with dignity from the fruits of their labour.  
 
Benin therefore urges  all WTO Members to support the Draft Ministerial Decision on Cotton submitted 
by the C -4 and, beyond that, to support, in the wake of the aforementioned WTO -FIFA partnership, 
ongoing  domestic industriali zation initiatives, such as the Glo-Djigbé Special E conomic Zone 
(GDIZ)  launched by the Government of Benin to promote  and accelerate local cotton processing as 
part of a comprehensive and integrated value chain.  
 
Overall, a collective leap is urgently needed to overcome the persistent divisions  in the nego tiations 
on agriculture, which are the main stumbling block in the Doha Round. My delegation wishes to 
reaffirm the importance of the principle of special and differential treatment  (S&D), that must 
be maintained and improved in all areas including for the establishment of a permanent solution to 
the key question of public stockholding for food security purposes ( PSH). 
 
Other equally important topics of negotiation, such as WTO reform, the e-commerce work 
programme and moratorium , and the regulation of sanitary and phytosanitary ( SPS) measures, to 
name but a few, call for bold and fair solutions that break free from the systemic logic of dominance. 
Benin is fully committed in this regard and is ready to contribute within the groups to which it belongs 
so tha t the multilateral trading system can function better and benefit every WTO Member, 
regardless of its level of development.  
 
On this note of commitment and hope , I would like to close my remarks by wishing this Conference 
every success  in its work . 
 
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