WT/MIN(13)/ST/57  
 
5 December 2013  
(13-6713)  Page: 1/1  
Ministerial Conference 
Ninth Session 
Bali, 3-6 December 2013  Original: English  
 
STATEMENT BY HON. ABDOU KOLLEY 
MINISTER OF TRADE, INDUSTRY, REGIONAL INTEGRATION AND EMPLOYMENT 
THE GAMBIA 
Thank you for giving me the floor to participate in the general debate. Let me first thank the 
Government and People of Indonesia for the warm hospitality in hosting the Ninth Ministerial Conference here in Bali. My thanks and appreciation also go to the WTO Director General and staff as well as our negotiators for the hard work leading to our gathering here in Bali.  
 
When the DDA was launched in 2001, it brought a lot of hope for developing countries, LDCs and SVEs that the multilateral trading system will at last address our issues and concerns in a 
comprehensive manner. These hopes and aspirations have since been gradually fading away due 
to slow progress in reaching agreement on key development issues. A lot of goodwill is needed from all members, in particular developed countries, to effectively conclude and deliver on a round 
that is truly developmental. The recent proliferat ion of bilateral and plurilateral trade agreements, 
signed or under negotiation, should not and must not be substitutes to a multilateral trade agreement, thus it's time the DDA is concluded.  
For The Gambia as an LDC, development is at the heart of our membership in the WTO and Bali 
cannot be considered a success if we cannot deliver on development, a central pillar to the work of WTO. On Agriculture which is important for the development of our economies as well as meeting 
the food security needs of our people, developing countries and LDCs continue to face daunting 
challenges from highly subsidized developed countries exports. While we continue to call for the removal of these competition distorting subsidies, and until that is achieved, work should be 
undertaken to develop special safeguard measures for net food importing developing countries, 
LDCs and SVEs to allow the application of predicta ble, transparent and flexible import and export 
taxes to protect producers and consumers in these countries.  
Also, the finalization of work on the Special and Differential Treatment Monitoring Mechanism 
should be expedited to ensure that S&D is trul y strengthened and made more precise, effective 
and operational. There is also a need for the ex peditious and effective operationalization of the 
LDC services waiver to support the developmen t of the LDCs. Development partners should 
therefore provide the LDCs with enhanced techni cal assistance and capacity building to improve 
their service exports. Aid-for-Trade remains an important mechanism to achieve these objectives 
and the EIF programme should continue to be supported and be extended beyond 2015 to support 
LDC trade development programmes.   Finally, although trade facilitation could be beneficial to all countries, it needs to be addressed 
holistically and in a balanced manner. While duty-free quota-free schemes abound, complicated 
and cumbersome rules of origin as well as other non-tariff barriers hamper the ability of developing countries, LDCs and SVEs to effectively make use of them. Thus in addition to much 
needed technical assistance for capacity building, deliberate efforts must be taken by concerned 
countries to address these real issues, if trade is to remain a core component of sustainable development. 
 
Let me conclude by congratulating the new Dire ctor General Roberto Azevêdo on his appointment 
and wishing him success in steering the affairs of our noble Organization. I thank you all for your kind attention. 
 
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