WT/MIN(15)/22  
 
16 December 2015  
(15-6638)  Page: 1/2  
Ministerial Conference 
Tenth Session 
Nairobi, 15-18 December 2015  Original: English  
 
 STATEMENT BY H.E. AMBASSADOR AMINA MOHAMED, CABINET SECRETARY  
FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE OF  
THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA 
MC10 OPENING SESSION 
15 DECEMBER 2015 
 
On behalf of the Government and People of Kenya, I welcome you all to Nairobi and to this 
Opening Session of the Tenth WTO Ministerial Conference.  
Welcome to the Kenyatta International Conference Center (KICC).  I am highly honoured to acknowledge the presence of our host Dr. Uhuru Kenyatta, President of 
t h e  R e p u b l i c  o f  K e n y a ,  i n  t h e  c o m p a n y  o f  ( a  h i ghly regarded honorary Kenyan), H.E. Madame 
Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia.  
Since the start of the year, Members have worked hard to get to this point. Constituency groups 
have met in different regions. Either as Ministers, Ambassadors or Chief Negotiators, we have met 
on the margins of other meetings: Davos, the OECD in Paris, the Ten-year Review of A4T in Geneva, the WTO Public Forum, the G20 in Istanbul and of course, in the regular bodies of the WTO, the TNC and the General Council. We have made proposals, reviewed them, countered 
them, explored "landing zones" and, exchanged vi ews. We have worked a "Facilitators Process" 
that came to an end in Geneva last week.  
We know what is at stake? So, what is at stake here in Nairobi?  
Let's face up to it. The WTO is the principal foru m for trade negotiations that delivers the public 
good of non-discriminatory trade rules, and much more. It is a primary arena for international cooperation. Its credibility and capacity to deliver would be called into question, were we not to be 
successful in delivering "meaningful" outcomes in Nairobi.  
The WTO, building on its GATT foundations, embodi es the core values of openness, transparency, 
good governance and the rule of law. It is structured on the separation of powers: as in its legislative function through negotiations; its Executive Secretariat; and, in the judicial function 
pursuant to the Dispute Settlement Understandin g (DSU). In other words, the WTO embodies 
modern democratic governance, in its structure, substance and, method of work.  
Were we not to deliver, how would we, the champions of the WTO and the beneficiaries of the 
gains from trade, answer the sceptics and the op position, frequently impervious to reason, who 
have always perceived the WTO negatively and wrongly, as a club where the agenda of the rich are set?  
We need to exercise care and be mindful of what is at stake and what the WTO represents.  
The existential rationale of the WTO is irrefutable. Its centrality in international trade relations 
cannot be substituted. If the rules-based multilate ral trading system did not exist, we would have 
to create it. If it fails because of leadership deficits and inability to make rational choices, we 
would have to re-create it. We are dealing with the logic of history. The failed League of Nations WT/MIN(15)/22 
 
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  was substituted by the United Nations. If we are awkward and impractical and do not make the 
hard choices to renew the WTO and we lose it, we  would have to re-create it and it would be 
infinitely harder to do so.  
Apart from a weak global economy still dealing with the after-shocks of the global financial and 
economic crisis, we are faced with the risk of tr ade and economic fragmentation. Variable regional 
trading arrangements are useful and can generate welfare effects. They are complements to trade 
multilateralism, but not substitutes.  
And if I may quote my friend and colleague USTR Michael Froman from his Op Ed in the Financial 
Times of yesterday, "Multilateralism still promises  the greatest gains in theory"; and, I would to 
that "in practice as well".  
The WTO represents something more and greater. In multilateral trade negotiations, parties are 
not just the like-minded – "like us". The world is not just composed of the like-minded. We reflect 
the rich and frustrating diversity of different priorities, different concerns and different approaches. This may not always approximate our goals, idea ls, preferences and ambitions, but these are the 
cards that we have been dealt and which we must play.  
In our diversity, we learn something more valuable. We learn to engage constructively, 
pragmatically and, realistically. We learn to construct a modus vivendi  and a win-win for all. In our 
trade games, there are no winners that take it all. This is the immeasurable value of 
multilateralism.  
So, this is what is at stake and what we have to address in Nairobi over the next few days.  
But the odds are not stacked against us. To the contrary, I believe that the odds are in our favour. 
The results of year-long negotiations are not unfam iliar. Although they have been tough, there are 
self-binding commitments to success. The WTO has the full commitment of African WTO Members for a successful outcome. Our objective from this Nairobi Ministerial meeting is that it renews and 
strengthens the WTO. We would like it said that Africa restored to the WTO its élan, its capacity for 
trade rules and regulations and, its nimbleness in solving real world problems.  
The outcome from Nairobi should modernize and update the WTO.  
I would like to thank Roberto for his tireless efforts as Director-General to define the landing zones 
for a Nairobi outcome.  
Over the next few days, as Chair of the Tenth Ministerial, I will work closely with him and 
Ministers, in different formats and configurations, to secure a meaningful outcome.  
We shall do whatever it takes. Kenya and Africa are firmly fixed on ending 2015 on a high note for 
trade multilateralism. We ask the rest of the world to join us. With the support of the 162 Members of the WTO, I am hopeful that we shall succeed.  
 
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