WT/MIN(13)/ST/49  
5 December 2013  
(13-6704)  Page: 1/2  
Ministerial Conference 
Ninth Session 
Bali, 3-6 December 2013  Original: French  
 
  STATEMENT BY H.E. MR AMALAS AMLAS HAROUN 
MINISTER OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY 
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC  
The delegation of the Central African Republic wishes to pay tribute to the authorities 
of the Republic of Indonesia for taking the initiative of hosting the Ninth WTO Ministerial Conference on this beautiful Indonesian island and thanks them for their legendary hospitality. 
I in turn would like to congratulate WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo on his appointment 
as head of our Organization and for his engagement in the negotiations, and wish him the best 
of success in his position. 
I also commend the WTO Secretariat and the donors for their contribution to the logistical, 
financial and technical organisation of this important meeting. 
Moreover, I congratulate those Members that have made huge sacrifices in an intense negotiating 
process and encourage them to safeguard not only the credibility of our Organization but also 
the Doha Development Round. 
The Central African Republic attaches great importance to the multilateral trading system 
and its impact in terms of the country's socio-economic development and integration in global value chains. This is why it has actively engaged in the negotiations on the Doha Development 
Round since its inception. 
As a landlocked LDC, the Central African Republic is among the weaker links in this Organization. 
My country's Government is therefore in favour  of preserving the gains achieved to date 
in the negotiations on the LDC package. 
However, the development issue must remain at the heart of the WTO's work, conducted 
in accordance with the principles of transpar ency and consensus. The role of the various 
WTO bodies needs to be strengthened in order to meet the challenges currently facing the 
multilateral trading system in these times of glob al crisis when protectionism and the proliferation 
of bilateral and plurilateral agreements tend to override multilateralism. 
1.  As regards the Agriculture negotiations: Th e Central African Republic supports the draft 
decision on the table and continues to closely follow the contentious issue of subsidies that 
distort the rules governing market competition. It welcomes the consensus reached on the proposal submitted by the co-sponsors of the Sectoral Initiative in Favour of Cotton 
(C-4 Group), although the proposal falls short of expectations. It urges Members to comply 
with the commitments undertaken with regard to reducing domestic support that distorts the international cotton market and proposes building up supply-side capacity 
and increasing market access. WT/MIN(13)/ST/49 
- 2 - 
  2.  As a landlocked country, the Central African Republic faces very high trade and transit 
costs. A balanced trade facilitation agreement wi ll therefore help my country to meet these 
challenges. At this juncture, it is useful to recall the importance of Annex D on trade facilitation and to repeat that, as an LDC, my country will not undertake commitments 
beyond its capabilities and development needs in the absence of appropriate and effective 
technical and financial assistance to implement these measures. 
3.  As regards development issues, special and differential treatment must be made effective 
so that our countries can meet the challenge and acquire the capacities needed to deliver 
on their WTO commitments. 
4.  The Central African Republic attaches considerable importance to the Aid for Trade 
initiative and urges the donor countries to support the implementation of the regional 
strategy of the Economic Community of Central African States, developed with support 
from the African Development Bank (AfDB) in terms of its operation. 
5.  Recognizing the significant contribution ma de by the Enhanced Integrated Framework 
in mainstreaming trade into national de velopment programmes and its support for 
strengthening the production capacities of  LDC beneficiaries, my country welcomes 
the extension of the EIF programme until 2015 and would like it to be extended beyond 
that date. My delegation invites the other partners to provide further resources with 
a view to funding a whole number of projects currently being submitted by the beneficiary countries. 
6.  My delegation welcomes the new accession guidelines for LDCs and continues to advocate 
transparent and flexible accession rules. I take this opportunity to bid a warm welcome 
to Yemen, which is finally joining the WTO after long years of negotiation. 
I cannot conclude without endorsing the statements made by Nepal on behalf of the LDCs, 
Morocco on behalf of the African Group, and Jamaica on behalf of the ACP countries. 
 
__________