WT/MIN(15)/ST/95  
5 January 2016  
(16-0069)  Page: 1/2  
Ministerial Conference 
Tenth Session 
Nairobi, 15-18 December 2015  Original: Spanish  
 
  STATEMENT BY H.E. MR HERNÁN ESTRADA ROMÁN 
AMBASSADOR, PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE TO THE WTO 
NICARAGUA  
On behalf of the National Reconciliation and Unity Government of Nicaragua, I would like 
to express my sincere and fraternal gratitude to the Government and people of Kenya for hosting this Tenth WTO Ministerial Conference.  
The Republic of Nicaragua reaffirms its view th at the WTO embodies the system of rules that 
ensures the stability of international trade.  
This Ministerial Conference is an opportunity for Members to show real political will, not only 
to pursue the negotiations, but to ensure that these negotiations are sincere and effective, guaranteeing transparent and predictable openness to trade and promoting economic growth and 
the full and equitable participation of developing and least developed countries in world trade. 
 It is, however, unfortunate that the Doha Develo pment Agenda (DDA) negotiations have remained 
in a critical state since our last session. The main actors continue to show a lack of political will 
to conclude these negotiations and set the direction for future WTO work. 
 Nicaragua, a country with a small and open, but vulnerable, economy, is firmly committed to a fair 
and equitable multilateral trading system that promotes Nicaragua's further integration into 
international trade, contributes to economic development, helps to eliminate poverty, and improves the population's standard of living. We th erefore reiterate that it is vital to address the 
issue of small and vulnerable economies at this Conference in order to reach a balanced 
agreement.  Nicaragua has been promoting an economic management model based on dialogue and consensus 
with the main actors in our society; we have made progress and remain committed to deepening 
and improving this partnership model. These joint efforts have enabled us to successfully conclude our most recent WTO trade policy review and to improve our production base, our economic 
infrastructure and our compliance with international trade rules and standards, with a view to 
laying the necessary foundations for the country 's sustainable transformation and economic 
growth. 
 
Our main export products, however, continue to be hit by fluctuations in international prices, the ever increasing number of non-tariff barriers, and subsidies and domestic support, which also reduce the competitiveness of our products. For this reason, my delegation believes that 
to achieve substantial improvements in market access, it is important to move the negotiations 
to implement the DDA forward and to take polit ical decisions that allow for the opening up 
of markets to agricultural trade, the liberalization of services, the elimination of non-tariff barriers 
and all forms of export subsidies, and a substantia l reduction in trade-distorting domestic support 
in the agricultural sector.  
Nicaragua does not see Nairobi as the end of the road. Work must continue and draw from 
the experiences had and the lessons learnt, with a view to establishing concrete actions that will make it possible to reach a prompt and balanced conclusion to the Round, based on the progress already achieved, taking into account flexibilities for small economies, special and differential 
treatment, and the strengthening of the multilat eral trading system, which is the cornerstone WT/MIN(15)/ST/95 
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  of all Members' trade policies. We need to conclude the negotiations taking into account the 
asymmetries between the developed economies and the developing economies, so as to create fairer, more equitable and distortion-free markets, in line with the multilateral trading system we 
would all like to build. 
 
My delegation welcomes the Islamic Republic of  Afghanistan and the Republic of Liberia as 
new WTO Members and wishes them every success in making international trade a beneficial tool 
for their people. 
 To conclude, Nicaragua associates itself with the statements of Guatemala on behalf of the small 
and vulnerable economies, of Indonesia on beha lf of the G-33, and of the Dominican Republic 
on behalf of the informal group of developing countries. 
 
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