WT/MIN(15)/ST/76
21 December 2015
(15-6805)  Page: 1/2
Ministerial Conference 
Tenth Session 
Nairobi, 15-18 December 2015  Original: English
 
STATEMENT BY HON. EKWOW SPIO-GARBRAH 
MINISTER FOR TRADE AND INDUSTRY 
GHANA 
At the outset, I would like to congratulate you H.E. Ambassador Amina Mohamed, Cabinet 
Secretary of the Republic of Kenya, and your Vice  Chairs on your election to preside over this 
Conference which is the first of its kind to be held in Africa by the World Trade Organization (WTO). 
 
O n  b e h a l f  o f  t h e  G o v e r n m e n t  a n d  p e o p l e  o f  G h a n a ,  I  w i s h  t o  e x p r e s s  g r a t i t u d e  f o r  t h e  w a r m  welcome and hospitality extended by Governme nt and people of the Republic of Kenya. 
 
We also commend the efforts of the Director-Gen eral (DG), the Chair of the General Council and 
all those involved for their relentless efforts and salute you all on the twentieth anniversary 
commemoration of the establishment of the WTO. 
 My delegation would also like to support the group statements made by the distinguished representatives of Lesotho and Barbados on be half of the African Group and the ACP Group 
respectively. 
 Ghana reaffirms the WTO’s role as the pre-emin ent forum for multilateral trade negotiations 
through which many of the poorest and most vulnerable countries can truly benefit from 
international trade as well as the objectives em bodied in the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) to 
bring growth, development, and trading opportunities to Members. 
 
However, Ghana’s expectations have not been met by the on-going DDA negotiations’ inability to 
secure meaningful development outcomes. The need  to address the imbalance in the Multilateral 
Trading System remains urgent and critical, and that the prime objective of the Doha Development 
Agenda with development at the centre remains justifiable. 
 The surge in plurilateral, preferential trade and bilateral trade agreements undermines the 
functionality of the WTO negotiating mandate. It is therefore crucial that the negotiating role of the 
WTO is reinvigorated to restore the credibility of  the organization. We call on key WTO members to 
show leadership by bringing their energies back to the multilateral negotiating table, as opposed to 
pursuing these plurilateral initiatives. 
 Ghana recognises the Mini-Package for Nairobi and  acknowledges  its systemic importance for LDCs  integration  into the global trading system; we reiterate that agriculture remains central to 
Africa’s agenda at the WTO and emphasize the urgent need to enhance its market access to 
support value added products, job creation, pove rty alleviation and overall development of the 
Agriculture sector. 
 
We are all widely aware of the development narrat ive that these negotiations hold and as such 
require a dynamic and timely approach as I asserted earlier. It is our expectation that negotiations 
on these issues will be expedited and concluded in a manner that would give true meaning to the 
DDA upon our return to Geneva.  In this spirit we recognize and welcome progress made to date in the regular work of the WTO 
including in the Accession of Liberia and Afghanistan to the WTO community. We further welcome WT/MIN(15)/ST/76 
 
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  the decision to continue the work on E-Commerce based on the existing mandate and guidelines of 
the Work Programme for Members to maintain the current practice of not imposing customs duties on electronic transmissions until our next se ssion which we have decided to hold in 2017. 
 
To conclude, Ghana wishes to reiterate that th e DDA will not be successfully concluded until the 
developmental objectives and all areas of interest to African countries, particularly Agriculture, Development and LDCs issues, have been fully addressed and the systemic imbalances in the 
multilateral trading system that disadvantage developing countries have been redressed. My 
delegation remains committed to the Multilateral Trading System which gives confidence to the entire trading community. 
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