WT/MIN(15)/ST/29  
18 December 2015  
(15-6777)  Page: 1/2  
Ministerial Conference 
Tenth Session 
Nairobi, 15-18 December 2015  Original: Spanish  
 
  STATEMENT BY MR JAIME GARCIA-LEGAZ 
SECRETARY OF STATE FOR TRADE 
SPAIN 
I would first of all like to thank the Government and the people of Kenya for their warm hospitality 
and the excellent organization of this Tenth WTO Ministerial Conference, the first that we have the honour of attending in Africa. The Conference also coincides with the WTO's 20
th anniversary. 
I would also like to welcome the new WTO Members that have acceded since the last Ministerial 
Conference in Bali: Kazakhstan and Seychelles; as well as Liberia and Afghanistan, which are 
completing their accession process here in Nairobi. 
International trade and invest ment, an engine for growth 
We currently find ourselves facing a difficult international climate, with different economic 
prospects. While strong growth is guaranteed for advanced economies, there are signs that activity will continue to slow down for the economies of many emerging and developing countries. 
In the face of such economic inequality, it remains vital that we move forward together to reduce 
barriers to trade and investment. This is a priority for increasing growth worldwide. 
In Spain, which is currently the fastest growing eurozone country, the external sector has 
contributed significantly to growth and has played a fundamental role in helping the country 
recover from the crisis. We have seen and continue to see a structural change in the behaviour 
of our companies, the majority of which now consider  export activity to be vital not only for their 
very existence and but for competition and growth. 
Nairobi and the DDA 
After 15 years of the Doha Round, on paper the most ambitious and extensive trade liberalization 
round that has ever existed, there are no prospe cts of any further significant progress. We are 
therefore at a critical juncture in terms of the WTO's credibility as the multilateral trading system's 
key institution and leading negotiating forum. 
Nairobi could mark a turning point for the future of the WTO. It is important that we produce 
a package of results that, in the area of export competition, addresses the concerns expressed by 
Members during the preparatory process for the Ministerial. We must also incorporate 
development-related consensus proposals, which show our commitment in favour of least developed countries that are in the process of becoming integrated into world trade. 
Post-Nairobi and the future of the WTO 
Now, more than ever before, we need to be brave and work constructively on flexibility and on 
incorporating new issues into the DDA negotiations. 
We must recognise that the momentum brought to the Round in Bali has not yielded results, and 
we should find new, less complex and more flexible ways of negotiating that enable us to begin discussing other issues relevant to our time, such as the digital agenda, investment, the defence WT/MIN(15)/ST/29 
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  of competition in international trade, export taxes and the rebalancing of countries' responsibilities 
in the new international economic context. 
In this spirit, Spain has supported the negotiations on the Trade Facilitation Agreement, which 
we hope will soon be ratified, and on plurilateral agreements such as the broadening of the ITA, 
as well as the negotiations on the EGA. These processes, together with those taking place in the 
bilateral sphere, represent new ways to move forward in the negotiations, and the WTO must incorporate them in order to strengthen its role as a key negotiating forum for the multilateral 
trading system. 
The WTO's ability to successfully address outstanding DDA issues, and other new issues, 
is contingent upon the success of this Ministerial. We believe that success is possible and we want to contribute to it. 
From that starting point, the WTO will be able to tackle the new challenges that the 21
st century 
holds. 
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