WT/MIN(22)/ST/102  
12 June 2022 
(22-4542) Page: 1/2 
Ministerial Conference  
Twelfth Session  
Geneva, 12 -15 June 2022  Original:  French  
 
  
STATEMENT BY H.E.  MR ABDOULAYE TALL  
MINISTER OF INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT, TRADE, CRAFTS AND SMALL  
AND MEDIUM -SIZED ENTERPRISES  OF BURKINA FASO , 
COORDINATOR OF THE C4  
BURKINA FASO 
I am making this statement on behalf of the Group of four Co -sponsors of the Sectoral Initiative in 
Favour of Cotton (C4) and Côte d'Ivoire, and on behalf of all 36 African countries that produce and/or 
export cotton and cotton by -products.  
The C4 associates itself with the statements that have been or will be made on behalf of the groups 
to which its members belong.  
Through my statement, the Group would like to thank the Swiss Confederation for its excellent 
organization of the Twelfth Ministerial Conference of the WTO and for the warm, friendly welcome 
received by the delegations of its members, despite the difficult health situation.  
The C4 also commends the Minister of the Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 
Mr Timur Suleimenov, for his leadership in our work and would like to assure him of the C4's support 
and constructive engagement to ensure that MC12 is a success.  
I would also like to reiterate our gratitude to the Director -General of the WTO, Dr Ngozi, for her 
dedication to the work of the Organization and for the new dynamism that she is injecting into the  
Organization so that it can fully play its role in multilateral trading system  governance . 
Director -General, the C4 trusts you and would like to reassure you of its support in ensuring that 
your term of office is a success.  
For the C4 countries and other cotton -producing countries around the world, this Conference takes 
place in a special context . On 30 August  2021, the United Nations General Assembly adopted by 
consensus a resolution (A/RES/75/318) proclaiming 7  October as World Cotton Day . The adoption 
of the resolution marked the culmination of a process initiated in 2019, at the initiative of the 
C4 Group and with the support of all its partners.  
On behalf of the highest authorities in the C4 countries, I would like to take the opportunity off ered 
by this forum to thank all WTO Members and partners for their support . I thank the Director -General 
of the WTO for her personal commitment to the successful conclusion of this process.  
Allow me also to express my gratitude to the International Trade C entre (ITC), the United Nations 
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the International Cotton Advisory Committee  
(ICAC) , the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations  (FAO) , the Enhanced Integrated 
Framework  (EIF) and all partner ins titutions for their support as part of the various initiatives to 
promote cotton.  
Although we should welcome the adoption of the resolution on World Cotton Day, which represents 
a major breakthrough in the battle we have been fighting for cotton for many y ears, it is worth 
noting that enormous challenges remain to make the best use of this sector, which plays a crucial 
role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular poverty alleviation, food security WT/MIN(22)/ST/102  
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  in African countries and least develop ed countries that produce or export cotton, and women's and 
youth economic empowerment in rural and urban areas.  
Indeed, entire sections of the cotton sector remain unexploited, as revealed by the feasibility study 
of the WTO -ITC-UNCTAD joint initiative on  the transfer of technology and know -how for the 
development of cotton by -products.  
I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate the invitation extended to all the development 
partners to contribute to the implementation of the integrative and region al programme, most 
notably the "Cotton Roadmap" programme . The programme will ensure that value chains are 
developed in the cotton sectors in beneficiary countries, which will allow the sector to drive job 
creation, poverty alleviation, better food securit y, and sustainable and inclusive economic and social 
development.  
Furthermore, efforts invested in the development component of cotton must be accompanied and 
supported by tangible results in the trade component negotiations . It cannot be stressed enough 
that domestic support continues to seriously disrupt world cotton prices and that one of the main 
consequences of this disruption is the significant loss of income suffered by  millions of people in 
cotton -producing and cotton -exporting African count ries and LDCs. These challenges have been 
exacerbated by the effects that the C OVID -19 pandemic and, in some C4 countries, the security 
crisis have had on the cotton sector, as is reflected in the results of the WTO study on the impact of 
the pandemic on t he cotton sector in the C4 countries and other African LDCs . 
Consequently, the C4 countries reaffirm their strong concerns about the lack of substantial outcomes 
in the multilateral trade negotiations on domestic support for cotton, despite the mandate iss ued in 
December  2005 in Hong Kong.  
The C4 reiterates the pressing demand of several countries that produce or export cotton and 
cotton -related products to reach a concrete and fair agreement with a view to eliminating the 
distorting effects of all forms of  support for the cotton sector.  
Furthermore, the C4 urgently calls upon all WTO Members that grant domestic support with 
distorting effects on the international cotton market to strive for further progress in the work on 
cotton and to notify, on a regular basis and to ensure transparency, up -to-date information on the 
domestic support granted to their cotton producers, in order to effectively meet the objectives set 
for this vital issue.  
The C4 reaffirms its commitment to a fair and inclusive multilateral t rading system based on rules 
that can redress the current imbalances in multilateral trade rules and guarantee inclusive prosperity 
and well -being for all WTO Members, in particular developing countries and LDCs . 
A successful MC12, with tangible results on issues that had reached an impasse, such as agriculture, 
fisheries, health  and trade, and the dispute settlement system, will send a historic and decisive 
signal to the world that the WTO is expected to continue to play its role in strengthening  the 
multilateral trading system.  
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