WT/MIN(13)/ST/11  
4 December 2013  
(13-6642)  Page: 1/2  
Ministerial Conference 
Ninth Session 
Bali, 3-6 December 2013  Original: English  
 
STATEMENT BY H.E. MS ANNE RUTH HERKES  
MINISTER OF TRADE 
GERMANY  
Germany is a firm advocate of a successful multilateral trade system.  
 We therefore wish to do our utmost to make this ministerial conference a success and to strengthen and develop the tried and trusted regu latory system for world trade provided by the 
WTO. 
 The multilateral trading system is a driving force for growth and prosperity in all countries, and a 
guarantor for the stability of the global economy.  
 We need the multilateral trading system in order to ensure that the interests of the developing 
countries – and particularly of the least developed countries – play an equal part. 
 The multilateral system helps to keep markets open , even during times of crisis, and to resolutely 
combat protectionism.  
 
In the ongoing crisis in the global economy, the WTO has provided very good services in terms of 
monitoring trade policy measures in order to stifle protectionism. 
 
The ninth WTO ministerial conference can go down in history as the conference which gave a fresh boost to the global trading system. 
 
That is our goal.  Without a fresh stimulus, there is a danger of a la pse into protectionism, national egotisms and a 
further weakening of the world economy. We certainly do not want to let that happen. 
 The ninth WTO ministerial conference must not be remembered as the "poisoned apple that sent 
Snow White into everlasting sleep". 
The WTO is just as beautiful, and we want to keep it alive – in fact, we want to make it livelier than ever! 
 
That is why, here and now, we must hammer ou t a compromise for the Bali package. The Doha 
talks have got bogged down, and we need th is package to get things moving again.  
 
W e  c a n ' t  s i m p l y  p u s h  D o h a  a s i d e  o r  i g n o r e  i t .  N o r  d o  w e  w a n t  t o .  W e  n e e d  t o  m o v e  f o r w a r d  
together, here and now at Bali.  
Only if we do this will the WTO be able to regain lost confidence in its capacity to further develop 
international trade law.  And this will generate a fresh dynamism amongst the WTO countries and pave the way for further 
steps towards reducing trade barriers and improving market access. 
 In the last century, the world trading system substantially reduced tariffs and quantitative restrictions. It has begun to increasingly integrate the developing countries into global trade. 
 WT/MIN(13)/ST/11 
 
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  More than two-thirds of the least developed countries (34 of 49 LDCs at present) have already 
become WTO members, and we wo uld like to encourage the others to take advantage of the 
relaxed accession conditions and not to stay outside.  
In the 21st century, we need the world trading syst em more than ever, and we need it in an up-
to-date, modern form.  
The continuing integration of our economic syst ems, and the deepening and broadening of the 
global value chains go to show that only the multilateral trading system is in a position to supply the right answers to the challenges of the 21st century.   
Only the multilateral trading system can ensure a fair balance of interests between industrial and 
developing countries. The WTO’s dispute-settlement system is a guarantor of this.   
We want an open world of international understan ding, free trade and the exchange of talents and 
knowledge.   
We now need the shared political will of all sides.  We are close to agreement on a Bali package. 
The conference must end with a result.  Our new Director-General, Roberto Azevêdo, has laid the foundations for this.  
  
In the brief time he has been in office, his achievements have been almost superhuman:  in day-and-night sessions, he has managed to forge compromises and to bring the positions as close 
together as was possible before the conference. 
 He deserves our special thanks and recognition for this! 
 
Germany is ready to constructively support all the efforts to reach an agreement. We are ready to make compromises as long as others are also willing to move. The time for tactics is over.   
Future generations will judge us by what we achieved here at Bali.  
 On this note, I wish us all a good and successful ministerial conference which will generate a vital 
stimulus for our global economic system.  
 12 years after Doha, the time has come to deliver some initial results. 
 
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