WT/MIN(13)/ST/111  
 
11 February 2014  
(14-0804)  Page: 1/2  
Ministerial Conference 
Ninth Session 
Bali, 3-6 December 2013  Original: English  
 
 STATEMENT BY HON. CARL HERMANN GUSTAV SCHLETTWEIN 
MINISTER OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY 
NAMIBIA  
This Ministerial Conference is taking place at a time when world leaders are struggling to manage 
the current economic crisis, which by and large is collateral damage caused by the financial and debt crisis in mainly the developed economies. Global economic growth rates slowed and unemployment rates reached unprecedented levels with the youth being hit hardest. To address 
this economic imbalance and to create opportunities for the unemployed in our economies must 
remain a priority for all of us.   
Regarding the Doha Round of negotiations, I wish to express my concern at the current impasse. 
The negotiations have now been repackaged into a piecemeal agenda, which in our view needs a closer look to ensure that its outcome is withou t prejudice to the Doha Ministerial Declaration. 
 
As it stands, major issues in Agriculture, Servic es, and Non-Agricultural Market Access, have been 
left out and are at risk of passing into oblivion. Fundamental differences, which have kept us busy for the past 12 years will not be resolved by this mini package. We are losing the opportunity to 
conclude the Doha Development Agenda in a comprehensive and balanced manner. We therefore 
urge Members to support an all-inclusive and comprehensive post-Bali work programme. This 
post-Bali programme should be concrete and time bound and integral part of the so called Bali 
package. 
 Let me turn to the so-called Bali-Package. The Republic of Namibia recognizes that Trade 
Facilitation measures can reduce the cost of doing business, it can create additional jobs and it 
could induce economic growth. To be able to comply with the obligations in the agreement significant investments have to be made by the de veloping countries. Therefore, the cost to build 
the required capacities and potential gains must be equitably spread between developed and 
developing economies. This can only be ensured by a balanced approach where the obligation to 
comply with new rules is matched by binding prov isions for assistance and capacity development. 
 
In addition the envisaged trade facilitation agreem ent must include effective operational rules that, 
when implemented, enable special and differentia l treatment and bring about development as its 
main deliverable. We support the position of the African and ACP Group which advocates that “the 
obligation on developing countries and LDCs to implement the Trade Facilitation Agreement should 
be based upon their acquisition of capacity to implement, including through fulfilling, by developed countries, the obligation of delivering binding, new and long-term technical and financial assistance and capacity building necessary for African countries to achieve full implementation 
capacity”. 
 On Agriculture, we recognize the fundamental impo rtance of food security and its linkages with 
agricultural productive capacity development. We maintain that agricultural produce should 
preferably be secured from local farmers, but al so by sourcing food on world markets. Equally 
important is to reduce wastage, food price escalation and to safeguard food production capacity. 
My concerns with the current situation are twofol d. On the one hand the proposed package does 
not sufficiently promote the development of agri cultural productive capacity in developing 
countries and on the other, many agricultural products are produced under a variety of support programs, which skew prices and accessibility. A better balance should be found here too. 
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  Lastly, we note the low ambition level maintained in the package for Least Developed Countries 
(LDCs), but nevertheless support it, since it aims to improve the results of better integration of LDCs in global trade.  
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