WT/MIN(13)/ST/18  
4 December 2013  
(13-6650)  Page: 1/2  
Ministerial Conference 
Ninth Session 
Bali, 3-6 December 2013  Original: English  
 
STATEMENT BY H.E. MR MICHAEL FROMAN  
TRADE REPRESENTATIVE 
UNITED STATES  
"First, we would like to thank President Yudhoy ono and the people of Indonesia for their warm 
welcome to this beautiful place.  "By the time we leave here this week, the WTO wi ll have entered a new era – one way or another. 
 
"After two decades of collective frustration, a deal is right in front of us. The first multilateral agreement since the creation of the WTO is not just within reach; it is at hand, if only we take hold 
of it.  
 "We have traveled a long road together since December 2011, when WTO Membership 
acknowledged the need for fresh, credible approaches to trade liberalization. And there has been a 
renaissance of activity in Geneva since.  "It's inspiring to look at the number of people in this room today, to think about the great 
community of effort which has labored to produce the texts that emerged from the process in 
Geneva managed by Director-General Azevêdo.  
"Texts. Not ideas or concepts. Texts, representi ng hard-fought compromises among partners. On 
food security, TRQ administration, export competit ion. On trade facilitation. And on development 
and LDC issues. 
 
"By definition, no country has gotten everything it wanted. This package is certainly not all that we 
hoped to get out of a multilateral trade negotiatio n, but we respect the process that brought us to 
this point. The United States has negotiated ha rd, but we've also been flexible. We've made our 
fair share of compromises, and we stand by  everything we agreed to with others. 
 "Together these texts are greater than the sum of their parts. Greater, because if Ministers can 
agree this week, we will have proved to a skeptical world that the WTO is a vital, vibrant 
institution, capable of producing important results for trade and development, worthy of our future 
confidence, attention and resources. 
 
"Yet all of us know that we are perilously close to  a different path. And that path leads to failure.  
 "Over the past few weeks in Geneva, we have careened closer to disaster on multiple occasions. 
Yet at each moment of crisis, the vast majority of the Membership pondered the consequences of 
failure, pulled back from the brink, and pulled together instead.  
"Most of us understand all too well the consequences of failing to pull together now. Let us not 
sugar-coat reality: leaving Bali this week without an agreement would deal a debilitating blow to the WTO as a forum for multilateral negotiations. And if that happens, the unfortunate truth is that 
the loss will be felt most heavily by those Members who can least afford it. 
 "But colleagues, we can avoid this outcome for all of us and for the institution of the WTO.   WT/MIN(13)/ST/18 
 
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  "We have before us a moment as full of potential as any in the history of this body. It is a moment 
in which we can realize that even though no one will get all that they want in a Bali agreement, we can, in fact, have a agreemen t that serves us all.   
 
"Three days from now, we can gather in this room as Ministers, having done no less than 
revitalizing the multilateral trading system. At this moment, though, we cannot take success for granted.  But just as surely, we can choose success together." 
 
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