WT/MIN(15)/ST/65  
21 December 2015  
(15-6796)  Page: 1/2  
Ministerial Conference 
Tenth Session 
Nairobi, 15-18 December 2015  Original: Spanish  
 
  STATEMENT BY H.E. MRS ILEANA NUÑEZ MORDOCHE 
DEPUTY MINISTER 
CUBA 
On behalf of my country, I would like to thank the Government and people of Kenya for the 
generous hospitality that we have received at this Tenth Ministerial Conference of the WTO. 
 We also welcome Afghanistan and Liberia as new Members of the Organization and reaffirm our 
support for the early conclusion of the accession process for the remaining 19 developing and 
least developed countries.  
It is regrettable that expectations concerning the post-Bali Work Programme could not be met and 
that the past two years have seen no progress in terms of the Doha Development Agenda. Worse yet is that we should come to this Conference without an agreement on pursuing the Doha 
Agenda. 
 As we had warned, the approval of the Trade Faci litation Agreement, which broke with the single 
undertaking principle, led to a marked lack of inte rest on the part of the major developed countries 
in advancing the negotiations of the current Round, once their interests had been accommodated. 
In the pre-Bali work, we were told that approval  of the Trade Facilitation Agreement would ensure 
continuity of the Round. Now it is argued that the world has changed and that we should adopt 
more realistic approaches, in short, to conclude - precisely in Africa - the Doha Round. 
 The developed countries' obvious lack of political will is evidenced by failure to discharge all of the 
ministerial mandates regarding development and least developed country issues. It is alarming to 
note the intention of some developed countries to limit special and differential treatment, when the mainspring of this Organization is to ensure participation and integration in world trade.  
The Doha Round must continue until it delivers the outcome for which the Ministers, by mutual 
agreement, decided in 2001 to launch these negotiations. Failure to do so would jeopardize the credibility of the WTO. The needs and interests of the developing countries, especially the least 
developed countries, should be at the heart of the Work Programme and what we need today is to 
reaffirm the continuity of Doha.  
Cuba is not in favour of introducing a new agenda  to replace or divert attention away from the 
Doha Round negotiations. We must complete th e Doha Development Agenda before starting 
discussions on new issues in the WTO.  
Cuba is a small, vulnerable economy, not only because of its minor share of world trade and the 
fact of being a small island State, but also because it has suffered, for more than 50 years, the harshest economic, commercial and financial blockade in the history of humanity, which 
constitutes the greatest violation of the principles and rules of the multilateral trading system. This 
policy remains in force despite the restoration of  relations between the United States and Cuba, 
and the mutual interest in normalizing our relations. 
 
Policies such as this, which hamper and hinder the development of peoples, should have no place in today's world, much less within an Organization that promotes free trade for the welfare and development of its Members. Hence, it is important to have clear multilateral rules that leave no 
room for this form of action. WT/MIN(15)/ST/65 
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Cuba remains committed to multilateralism and to safeguarding a fair, equitable and non-discriminatory multilateral trading system, so as to reduce existing imbalances and promote sustainable development of our peoples, based on the recently agreed new Sustainable 
Development Goals and in the belief that a better world is possible. 
 
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