WT/MIN(15)/31  
18 December 2015  
(15-6717)  Page: 1/2  
Ministerial Conference 
Tenth Session 
Nairobi, 15-18 December 2015  Original: French  
 
  STATEMENT BY THE MEMBER STATES OF THE WEST AFRICAN 
ECONOMIC AND MONETARY UNION (WAEMU) 
 
The following communication, dated 17 December 2015, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Niger.  
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 The member States of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) congratulate the 
Kenyan authorities on the excellent organization of this 10
th Ministerial Conference and thank them 
for the warm welcome given to the WAEMU delegation.  
The West African Economic and Monetary Union is a structured and dynamic economic area with 
more than 90 million producers and consumers.  It has undertaken substantial reforms aimed at the progressive liberalization of intra- and 
extra-community trade, significantly improving the legal environment for economic activities within 
the value chain and applying a common external tariff since 2000.  
WAEMU trade ministers, meeting in Lomé on 6 November 2015 in preparation for this Ministerial 
Conference, emphasized, in their final declaration, the importance that they attach to the outcomes of this session, the first to be held on African soil. 
 
The member States of the West African Economic  and Monetary Union urge WTO Members to work 
towards achieving, by the end of this Conference, results that will enable long-awaited changes to be made to WTO rules, principles and mechanisms, so as to ensure the effective integration of 
developing countries, and particularly least developed countries, into international trade. 
 Accordingly, the member States recommend that the results of our work, in the various 
negotiating areas, truly reflect the Union's key objectives. 
 In particular, they urge WTO Members to deliver concrete, substantial and reasonable outcomes 
on cotton, in terms of both trade and de velopment. These outcomes must include: 
 
 the substantial reduction, with a view to the elimination, of domestic support that has a 
distortive effect on the international cotton trade; 
 
 the elimination of all forms of cotton export subsidies; 
 
 duty- and quota-free access for cotton and cotton products exported to developed 
country markets and developing country markets that are able to provide such tariff treatment. 
Furthermore, it is vital to continue negotiations aimed at strengthening disciplines on fisheries 
subsidies and prohibiting certain forms of support th at contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, 
while taking into account special and differential treatment for LDCs and small, vulnerable economies, and the specificities of these countries. 
 WT/MIN(15)/31 
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  WAEMU recognizes that the implementation of the WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation will have 
a beneficial impact on trade in exported and impo rted goods by reducing the duration and cost of 
related operations and procedures. In this respect, it has adopted a Regional Trade Facilitation Programme and its member States have undertaken to speed up the ratification process for this 
Agreement. 
 Regarding the development aspect of cotton, the member States of WAEMU thank their bilateral, 
regional and multilateral partners for the technical and financial assistance provided to strengthen 
the productive capacity, productivity and competitiveness of cotton within the WAEMU area.  They would also like to emphasize the importan ce of Aid for Trade and Enhanced Integrated 
Framework programmes for promoting trade and sustainable development in WAEMU countries. 
Their wish is that the financial resources gr anted under these two programmes be additional, 
substantial, effective and predictable, and that it support the national and regional efforts made by 
the member countries of this economic and monetary organization. 
 The WAEMU member States would like to conclude by extending their best wishes for a successful 
10
th Ministerial Conference. 
 
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