WT/MIN(13)/ST/45  
5 December 2013  
(13-6692)  Page: 1/2  
Ministerial Conference 
Ninth Session 
Bali, 3-6 December 2013  Original: English  
 
STATEMENT BY H.E. MRS EGLI PANTELAKI 
PERMANENT SECRETARY OF THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, NATURAL RESOURCES 
AND ENVIRONMENT 
CYPRUS 
It is a pleasure and an honour for me today to have the opportunity to address the plenary of the 
ninth session of the World Trade Organization’s ministerial conference, on behalf of my country, Cyprus. 
 
First, I would like to express my gratitude to the host of the conference, the Government of 
Indonesia, for the impeccable organisation of the conference here in Bali. I would also like to 
congratulate Yemen for its accession to the WTO. On this occasion, I would like to reiterate our 
commitment towards facilitating LDC accessions to the World Trade Organization.  
Past experience in my country and I am sure in other countries of the world, has shown that trade 
could indeed be used to achieve higher living standards, higher or even full employment and 
sustainable development. It has also been proven that a non-restrictive trade environment could help a country recover relatively easier and faster from an adverse economic situation. Trade can 
also help to increase productivity and to cut costs, the result being a reduction in the costs of 
production, reduced prices of finished goods and se rvices, more choice and ultimately a lower cost 
of living. Trade can also play a significant factor in the quest of developing countries to raise 
economic growth and graduate, eventually, to the developed world.  
 It is for this reason that we need, here in Bali, to consider the cost of failure in agreeing on the 
package that we have in front of us. I firmly concur with those Members who believe that a failure 
in Bali will have grave consequences, not only for the Doha Round, but also for the multilateral trading system as a whole, which has not delivered any new multilateral agreement since the Uruguay Round and the establishment of the World Trade Organisation. The failure will also be felt 
by the constituencies in each and every one of our countries, by the business community all over 
the world and, above all, by the most vuln erable among us, the developing Membership. 
 
We have worked with other Members intensively during the last two years and particularly over 
the last few weeks and a tremendous amount of wo rk was achieved collectively, covering a lot of 
ground in the negotiations towards the conclusion  of a successful Bali package. The strengthening 
of the multilateral trading system and the long-awaited conclusion of the Doha Development 
Agenda is paramount for us and remains amongst our trade priorities. An agreement on the Bali 
package would greatly enhance these objectives.  
Cyprus supports a political understanding on the text of an ambitious and legally binding Trade 
Facilitation Agreement which will bring substantial benefits to all WTO members and will be a driver for world trade and growth. Expert calculatio ns indicate that benefits accruing from this 
Agreement would go beyond a trillion of US dollar s and allow for the creation of over 21 million 
new jobs around the world. The Agreement would be of particular benefit to developing countries, by better integrating them into international trade and global value chains. We remain committed 
to assisting the developing countries most in need , especially LDCs, in the implementation of this 
Agreement and we expect that the more advanced developing countries should apply it in full.  WT/MIN(13)/ST/45 
 
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  Although it is our belief that Agriculture can only be properly addressed within a final outcome of 
the DDA mandate, we can accept that the Bali package contains a limited number of issues as part of the outcome of this Conference. Food security  should be addressed through a time-limited due 
restraint clause, with specific conditions and safeguards agreed by WTO members to ensure 
transparency and avoid trade distortions. We are also looking forward to the improvement of the 
administration of Tariff Rate Quotas, stressing at the same time that it would be more beneficial if applied by all WTO members. In the area of ex port competition, we are willing to support a 
political declaration which takes note of the progress achieved, underlines the importance of 
transparency and reaffirms the need to address all export competition issues in a balanced way in 
the context of the DDA negotiations.  
I am glad that the Development and LDC-related issues of the Bali package have been agreed 
among us, even though they are not considered as approved since they constitute one of the three 
pillars of the overall Bali package which still remains to be concluded. The Monitoring Mechanism 
on special and differential treatment, the draft deci sions on the operationalization of the services 
waiver, on preferential rules of origin, on duty free quota free market access and on cotton, all 
constitute valuable components of the development package we have in front of us. 
 
I  a m  s u r e  t h a t  w i t h  t h e  p r o p e r  e n g a g e m e n t  a n d  p o l i t i c a l  w i l l  w e  s h o u l d  b e  a b l e  t o  r i s e  t o  t h e  challenge, compromise on the specific and locali sed issues of divergence in order to reach an 
agreement and leave Bali with the proper tools in ou r luggage that will be used to allow prosperity 
and economic growth to our countries. At the same time, we will be able to maintain and secure 
the relevance of the WTO and strengthen the multilateral trading system. Time, though, is running out. Let us all work together to achieve this goal. 
 
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