WT/MIN(17)/ST/93  
4 January  2018 
(18-0063) Page: 1/2 
Ministerial Conference  
Eleventh Session  
Buenos Aires, 10 -13 December 2017  Original:  French  
 
  
STATEMENT BY H.E.  MR MARC YOMBOUNO  
MINISTER OF TRADE  
GUINEA 
WTO Members  have been  engaged in negotiations  under the Doha Development Round  for more 
than 16  years already . The Republic of Guinea  would have hoped  that this Round would  have 
finally reached its conclu sion, not only to allow the WTO to honour the commitments made over 
the years  since the Round was launched in Qatar in 2001, but also and primarily  to enable the 
Organization t o preserve its legitimacy and fulfil its obligation as the guarantor of a transparent 
and predictable multilateral trading system.  
Nowadays, the supporting role played by trade in favour of productive sectors such as agriculture, 
fisheries and crafts is becoming increasingly important for many developing countries across the 
world . 
Unfortunately, given the slow pace at which the Doha negotiating Round is progressing, with many 
more points of contention on major issues than agreements reache d, my country is concerned 
about the future of the system and the process initiated in Doha.  
The Republic of Guinea thus endorses the statements made by the ACP and LDC Group s in favour 
of the conclusion of the Doha Development Agenda  (DDA) , based on fair and balanced outcomes 
that will address development issues as the main deliverable . We also ask that the flexibilities 
negotiated in favour of the developing countries be preserved and that they be fully taken into 
account in accordance with  the principles  of inclusion and transparency.  
Given  its very sensitive social and economic implications for LDCs, the issue of agriculture as a 
whole needs to receive special attention . The agricultur e negotiations must lead to the elimination 
of all distorting subsidie s that are damaging to vulnerable economies.  
The development dimension has been central to this Round and has always been at the heart of 
the discussions in Geneva and at the Ministerial Confe rences that preceded the Buenos  Aires 
meeting . I therefore reaff irm Guinea's commitment to the Aid -for-Trade initiative.  
As regards the Enhanced Integrated Framework, my country takes this opportunity to thank all the 
donors, mainly  the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the contributions pledged 
at thi s meeting, the IF Steering Committee, the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) 
and the EIF Executive Secretariat  for their efforts , which will soon enable Guinea to benefit from 
Tier 2 EIF projects concerning mangoes  and operational capacity building for the country's  quality 
control authority . 
The mango project currently provides  hundred s of thousand s of farmers, mainly young people and 
women, in seven of Guinea's prefectures with support for their efforts to combat poverty, by 
developing mango and citrus fruit marketing as a component of their socio -economic 
empowerment.  
As the activities under the mango project are about to continue, I would like to extend special 
thanks to the International Trade Centre (ITC) for t he upcoming implementation of a wide -ranging WT/MIN(17)/ST/93  
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  socio-economic youth integration programme , in a move to dissuade young people from opting for 
illegal immigration . This programme is funded by the European Union.  
The Eleventh WTO Ministerial Conference is bein g held at a time when development aid and 
especially foreign direct investment in our countries are still scarce.  
We are eager to see this Eleventh Ministerial Conference sanctioned by a declaration proposing , 
among other things,  ways of solving the variou s problems that are not only still preventing the 
normal functioning of the multilateral trading system but also and above  all giving rise to overall 
economic austerity.  
The Republic of Guinea thus reiterates its commitment to the multilateral trading system and the 
establishment of a work programme to enable to the DDA negotiations to continue after the 
Buenos  Aires Conference.  
I sincerely hope that this Eleventh Ministerial Conference, on which everyone is pinning their 
hopes,  leads to consensus around the issues critical to the future of our great Organization, the 
WTO.  
 
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