WT/MIN(13)/ST/21  
4 December 2013  
(13-6657)  Page: 1/2  
Ministerial Conference 
Ninth Session 
Bali, 3-6 December 2013  Original: English  
 
STATEMENT BY H.E. MR SULTAN BIN SAEED AL MANSOURI 
MINISTER OF ECONOMY 
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES  
Allow me at the outset, on behalf of my government, to thank the gracious people and 
government of The Republic of Indonesia for host ing this very important ministerial conference. 
The hospitality by which we were received is test ament to the generous nature that we all know 
too well of this sisterly country. I would also like to thank the WTO Secretariat for preparing the 
documents before us today, a huge task th at you all need to be commended for.  
 It is my pleasure Mr Chairman to congratulate you and the vice chairpersons for your election to 
preside over this very important Ministerial Confer ence in the beautiful city of Bali. We are fully 
confident of your, and the vice chairpersons, wisdom and leadership in steering the discussions and the works of our meetings. You have our full su pport, and we look forward to work closely and 
constructively with you. I would also like to extend my warm thanks to the outgoing Director 
General Pascal Lamy for his tireless efforts that he exerted to serve the Organization and his active engagement to promote the multilateral trading sy stem. It gives me a great pleasure to welcome 
H.E. Ambassador Roberto Azevêdo and congratulate him for his appointment as a Director General 
of our esteemed Organization. I do not envy you, Mr Director General that you have jumped to 
front seat as of your first day in office. The UAE will save no effort to cooperate and collaborate with you for the good of the Organization and the multilateral trading system. 
 
We gather here today at a very important juncture in the history of trade, especially when many countries around the world are feeling the impact of the global economic slow growth after the 
economic crisis which has hit the international community as a whole a while ago.  
 In the last ministerial conference , in the elements for  political guidance, we have agreed to remain committed to work actively and collectively, thinking out of the box fully exploring different 
negotiating approaches, towards overcoming the critical stalemate facing our extreme 
commitment to the success of the Doha development round of negotiations. Here we are today, all 
convinced that we are able to harvest the ripe enou gh of the products which will be pouring to the 
pool of the DDA as a target crowning our success.  Moreover, the deliverables of Bali shall have a 
positive impact and a positive externality to push the engine of the global economic growth serving 
the very main principles of the world trade Organization.  
 
Moreover, after years of stalemate, impasse, on global trade agenda, there is a real opportunity in our hands to achieve a meaningful development friendly outcome that fosters market access, creates jobs that unleash real opportunities for higher growth throughout the world. This will also 
be an important pillar of support to achieve our agreed drawn goals for the millennium 
development goals.   
In a business oriented calculation, to harvest what we have today in the trade facilitation deal, we 
are not so far, and according to various reliable sources, we would boost the world economy by an 
amount equivalent to 1 trillion dollars and could reduce total trade costs by 10%. This is, 
extremely, a tremendous value for our business communities especially our SMEs who are to 
struggle, the most, of the trade red tapes. We should seize the opportunity.  Furthermore, Doha round and its agreed conclusions was built around the word development. We 
h a v e  a l l  w o r k e d  i n  g o o d  f a i t h  f o r  t h i s  a n d  o u r  w o r k  o v e r  t h e  l a s t  d e c a d e ,  t h o u g h  w i t h  s o m e  WT/MIN(13)/ST/21 
 
- 2 - 
 
  turbulences and hurdles, is a progress registered in all fronts. The UAE, as a developing country, 
believes that more of focus on the development si de of the equation would enhance the ambitions 
of all towards finalising a balanced deal to work for the good of all developing, developed and least 
developed. It is our collective responsibility to strike a deal, and let's start reaping and cultivating 
in Bali some fruits of what  have planted since long.  
 The United Arab Emirates welcomes the adoption  of the various decisions and recommendations 
before the Ministerial on issues related to negotiations and ordinary work of WTO. All of these 
decisions will foster our future works and deliberations, and will have impact on strengthening the development side in the negotiations, especially th ose decisions designated to give favourable with 
special treatment for the LDCs. 
 
The UAE is always of the view that the accession process to the WTO should be streamlined, facilitated and expedited with fair conditions, base d on the multilateral trade rules, for developing 
countries and LDCs, especially that we have a large number of the Arab countries who are still 
negotiating the terms of their accession for the membership of the Organization. New accessions to the Organization are a mark to confirm the universality of this Organization. In this regard, we 
would like to welcome Laos and Tajikistan as new Members to the Organization. We would like also 
to extend our welcome and congratulations for our brotherly country, the republic of Yemen for the 
adoption of the package of its accession to the WTO and we look forward for their active participation as a full fledge Member. 
 
In addition, the Arab Group has contributed to the Conference some elements related to the issues of the early harvest, issues under negotiations and ordinary WTO work to help push the 
discussions forward. The UAE fully associates itself  with the statement submitted by the group and 
firmly welcome the participation of Palestine in this ministerial. Moreover, we call on Members to seriously consider the observer-ship status requested by Palestine to the WTO.  
 
The UAE is a young nation which was built on international trade. The growth of the volume of Emirates trade till the year 2008 was extremely accele rating registering very high rates. The rate 
for the year 2009 and due to the global economic crises declined by 16.3% .It picked up later, on 
slower pace than before the crises, and regist ered rates on average 15% for the years 2010 - 
2012. After the crises, amongst many other factors, WTO rules helped the international community to avoid protectionism policies and saved keeping borders open allowing market access for goods 
and services. Despite the economic hit, the UAE remained a secure destination for foreign 
investments where the FDI surged 21% for the ye ar 2012 reaching $ 9 billion from $7.6 billion in 
the year 2011. The rules based multilateral trading sy stem is of relevance to the trade policies that 
we are all striving to establish due to, at least, transparency and the expectancy. Led with a vision, 
the UAE is ranked as the 19th most competitive country in the world and ranked first in MENA region in terms of ease of doing business. This vision mixed with the international disciplines, including the WTO, will lead to accrue result oriented policies towards achieving a higher level in 
the diversification policies that my country is pursuing. 
 It is needless to say that the international community is in need of the rules based system which 
has served at the time of the crises and helped to  avoid imposition of protectionist measures. It is 
now more than ever that we need to strengthen  the Multilateral trading system and empower its 
development face. The UAE is a true believer in the multilateral trading system and attaches great 
importance to the rule - based multilateral trading system and we would always engage in a 
constructive manner with the Member states to work towards its success.  In conclusion, we are at a high level of expectation that the yields of our deliberations here in Bali 
will produce a constructive and efficient post Bali road map that will empower the Doha 
Development Agenda with commitment towards achieving successful results for the benefit of the entire membership, without compromising our multilateral consensus based decision and the 
non-compromised single undertaking principle as a firm Doha mandate. My country, as most of the 
Members, is fully determined to push ahead towards successful conclusion of the entire Doha mandate. 
 
I wish our deliberations will carry the success for this timely and important conference.   
__________