WT/MIN(13)/ST/53  
5 December 2013  
(13-6709)  Page: 1/2  
Ministerial Conference 
Ninth Session 
Bali, 3-6 December 2013  Original: French  
 
  STATEMENT BY H.E. MRS NICOLE BRICQ 
MINISTER OF FOREIGN TRADE 
FRANCE  
The thinkers of the Enlightenment dreamed of a world in which people, ideas, products and 
services circulated freely for the greater good of all. 
But it was only in the last century that History finally gave birth, in the pangs of two world wars 
but also in the fervour of reconstruction, to that dream of multilateralism to which the WTO has 
sought to give material form since its creation nearly 20 years ago. 
The WTO was established at a time when planetary trade was beginning its wild acceleration, with 
the value of world exports rising from 2,000 bi llion dollars in 1980 to more than 18,000 billion 
in 2012, at the same time as economies were becoming more and more interdependent. 
The regulation of world trade by substituting dialogue and negotiation for brute force and the 
establishment of collective well-being and sustainable development as the goal of trade, these 
have been, since the outset, the noble objectives of the WTO. 
That is why I am eager to pay tribute to Pascal Lamy for his work at the head of the WTO over 
a period of eight years during which he was ab le, sometimes at the centre of the storm, to 
continue steering a course towards multilateralism by making our organization more open and 
more democratic. 
At this point, may I congratulate Roberto Azevêdo on his constant readiness to engage in dialogue 
with a view to organizing this conference and on his determination to defend so strongly the 
vocation of our organization. 
However, I would like everyone present to reflect on the seriousness of the moment. As I see it, it is France's role to be the worl d's "gadfly", in the words of the French author 
Jean Giraudoux. Those of you who know me know that I can be outspoken and that I am not just 
acting a part when I make myself the spokeswoman for that France which cannot just sit back when the world is in disarray, that France which sometimes unabashedly permits itself to remind the international community of those great principles on which its behaviour should always 
be based. 
Withdrawing into oneself is emphatically not the answer, and that is something we should keep 
always in mind. 
So yes, of course, we support the agreement on trade facilitation, which would benefit all the 
participants in the multilateral system. It is an agreement from which everyone stands to gain. 
And, of course, we also think that the provisions of that agreement in favour of the most 
vulnerable countries would give them greater opportunities to succeed in world trade. WT/MIN(13)/ST/53 
- 2 - 
  And we also understand the agricultural proposals. But no, we do not want the European Union 
to be penalized, for not only has it considerably reduced its export subsidies since Hong Kong but it has also been the only one to do so. The end result of the discussions will have to be compatible with the recent reform of the CAP, which provides for the possibility of resorting to export refunds 
in the event of a crisis. It isn't a question of regional interest, just a simple question of justice. 
But the actual detail of what we are discussing today is not the main consideration. The main 
consideration is that an agreement on these texts will revitalize the WTO, it is that concessions 
on both sides will make it possible to remain firmly on course for multilateralism which, in the long 
term, is in everyone's interest. In fact, there is room for finding good compromises. 
Multilateralism gives everyone the opportunity to participate in the definition of common trade 
rules. 
It also has the advantage of simplifying a trading system that is far too complex and indeed 
contradictory on an international scale, and of establishing global rules and hence a degree of readability that can be lost in a multitude of bilateral agreements. Being the fruit of negotiations 
between actors with different interests, these agreements complicate the rules, making it more 
difficult for small businesses to export, and shatter that equality of access to information without which there can be neither justice nor prosperity. 
Reaching an agreement here in Bali would enable the WTO to recover the momentum 
needed to conclude the rest of the Doha Round and direct our joint efforts towards facing our current challenges. 
Further increasing the transparency of the WTO,  ending the policy under which disciplines are 
applied only to those countries that are singled out by virtue of having notified their trade policy 
actions and measures, strengthening the interaction between parliaments and civil society, these are so many measures that would make it possible to restore the magic of the WTO by reviving 
the productiveness of the debate. 
Enabling the developing countries to take full advantage of the opportunities that present 
themselves, facilitating trade and the pursuit of the Aid for Trade initiative, that would remind 
people that the WTO was initially called the WTDO, with a "D" for Development. 
Strengthening the cohesion of global governance, developing the levels of responsibility between 
members of the WTO, establishing closer links between our organization and the other intergovernmental organizations, and paying greater attention to the social and environmental 
aspects of international trade would be so many steps towards a more orderly world. 
In fact, multilateralism is the only system ca pable of enabling all countries, both big and 
small, weak and powerful, to participate in th e drafting and implementation of the rules of 
international trade. 
The WTO, the hope it brings, the desire for justice that animates and sustains it, its ability 
to federalize a dialogue which it is for us alone to make more intense and more constructive, is the 
best remedy for "might is right" in international trade. 
We don't want a world in which markets are bullied open, in which unequal treaties are imposed 
on the conquered by the conquerors, in which trade domination is adorned with the trappings of legality. 
I still think that the defence of the particular interest is not inconsistent with the general interest. 
I still think that concerted, programmed and guaranteed multilateralism is the necessary condition 
for sustainable prosperity, prosperity for one and all. To defend the WTO is to defend 
multilateralism, to continue wanting to advance to gether towards the ideal of an ever fairer and 
more open world.  
__________