WT/MIN(15)/ST/99  
5 January 2016  
(16-0071)  Page: 1/2  
Ministerial Conference 
Tenth Session 
Nairobi, 15-18 December 2015  Original: French  
 
  STATEMENT BY H.E. MRS NEFERT ITI NGUDIANZA BAYOKISA KISULA 
MINISTER OF TRADE 
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO 
On behalf of the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, His Excellency 
Mr Joseph KABILA KABANGE, let me begin by  congratulating the President of Kenya, 
his Government and the people of Kenya for the excellent organization of the first Ministerial Conference to be held on African soil. At the same time, I would like to express my sincere 
gratitude for the fraternal welcome extended to me and to my delegation. 
 Let me also congratulate you, Madame Chair, dear Amina, for your personal involvement 
throughout the preparation of this event. 
 It is true that the expansion of internatio nal trade over the years has been remarkable. 
This growth in trade has had a tangible impact on  the growth of our economies. The fact remains, 
however, that the share of the developing countri es and LDCs in this trade and the quality of 
goods and services they export fall short of the vision and the objectives of fair trade promoted by the Marrakech Agreement and reflected in the concerns raised by the Doha Development Agenda. 
 
The results obtained in Bali show that in spite of our differences, we are capable of succeeding on the other outstanding issues. 
 
Regarding the post-Bali negotiations which are the subject of this meeting, while my Government fully supports the positions expressed by the Af rican Group, the ACP countries and the LDCs, 
we would like to highlight a few specific concerns. 
 Firstly, on the subject of agriculture, my country insists on the need to preserve the flexibilities 
accorded to the net food-importing developing countries. We share the African position on the 
need to work on a flexible special safeguard mechanism in agriculture. Regarding export 
competition, the time has come to lay the foundations of a consensus.  
Secondly, on the development issues, my country supports the efforts to ensure market access for 
LDC services and services suppliers, and also su pports the options put forward with respect to 
duty-free and quota-free access in the developed country markets. 
 
Regarding NAMA, differentiated reduction objectives  should be defined in order to maintain an 
overall balance in the level of ambition between agriculture and NAMA as one of the keys to reaching an agreement. 
 
Finally, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is committed to the trade facilitation process which, by streamlining procedures and reducing costs w ill contribute to economic growth and poverty 
reduction. As a party to the Trade Facilitation Agreement, my country undertakes to submit its 
ratification instruments in the near future.  
Before concluding, my country would like to congratulate Liberia and Afghanistan on their 
accession to the WTO and to welcome them to the Organization.  I shall conclude by repeating my appeal for grea ter equity in international trade and commending 
the efforts by the WTO and other development partne rs in support of the developing countries and WT/MIN(15)/ST/99 
- 2 - 
  the LDCs. A good example of this is the move to wards a second phase of the Enhanced Integrated 
Framework. However, this technical assistance an d capacity building needs to be intensified and 
directed towards the development of national  and regional industries and value chains. 
 
__________