WT/MIN(15)/ST/94  
5 January 2016  
(16-0068)  Page: 1/2  
Ministerial Conference 
Tenth Session 
Nairobi, 15-18 December 2015  Original: English  
 
STATEMENT BY H.E. MR MOSES KOUNI MOSE 
AMBASSADOR TO THE WTO AND THE EU 
SOLOMON ISLANDS  
I join previous speakers to express my country’s  appreciation to the Government and people of 
Kenya for hosting the 10th WTO Ministerial Conferen ce and to register the deep gratitude of my 
delegation for the warm hospitality extended to us. I would also like to welcome the new members to our WTO family, Afghanistan and Liberia. My delegation aligns itself with the statement made by 
Fiji on behalf of the Pacific. 
 At the outset may I begin by saying that my dele gation is disappointed that we meet here on the 
continent of Africa, on the occasion of the 20
th Anniversary of our Organization, with very little to 
show to the world that we are serious about addr essing the development aspirations envisaged in 
the DDA. 
 
Instead, we are here faced with a dilemma of deci ding the future direction of our engagement, on 
whether to continue with the DDA mandate or simply to do away with it.  
Solomon Islands recognizes that the DDA mandate sufficiently takes into account the development 
needs of the LDCs and Small and Vulnerable memb ers and by doing away with it, will further 
marginalize them from the multilateral trading system. 
 
We believe that the continuing impasse we experience in concluding the DDA negotiation is not because of the flaws in the mandate or the pr ocess in which we engage but because of the 
unwillingness on our part to exercise the political will to broker consensus in our negotiations. 
 The growing ideological divide of opinions by tech nocrats that polarizes the negotiation process in 
Geneva has led only to deadlock in negotiations. This attitude needs to change. We have to be 
pragmatic and cognizant of our shared responsibility to tackle the trade and economic inequalities 
that exist amongst members and work towards integrating the weak and most vulnerable 
members in to the global economy. 
 
At this Conference, we call on all members to deliver on the Doha Round’s development mandate as a matter of priority. Our position is clear on this – the outstanding development issues related 
to the DDA must be addressed first and foremost. 
 Of particular interest to Solomon Islands is Rules negotiations on fisheries. We believe that by putting in place disciplines on fisheries subsides will not only help curtail IUU fishing and  protect 
the rapidly depleting world fish stocks from over-exploitation , but also sustain the economies of 
LDCs, Small Coastal States and others that rely heavily on fisheries for employment, livelihood and 
food security. 
 
Solomon Islands also places emphasis on the importance of reaching an agreement on all specific demands of LDCs in the Doha Round. Priority must  be given to implement the earlier Ministerial 
decisions made in favour of LDCs. 
 As an LDC and a beneficiary of the Enhanced Integrated Framework, Solomon Islands would like to stress the importance of the EIF for achieving sust ainable trade development. At this juncture, I WT/MIN(15)/ST/94 
 
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  wish to express our gratitude to those partners who have and continue to contribute to the EIF 
Trust Fund and call on members to continue to support this programme.  On the Trade Facilitation Agreement, I wish to notify members that Solomon Islands is in the 
process of ratifying the agreement. 
 In closing, may I encourage all members to take inspiration from the recent COP21 success by 
exercising openness and flexibility to find common grounds to reach consensus on decisions that 
will serve the best interests of all of our peoples. The onus is on all of us to exercise that political will. And I believe we can.  
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