. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(09)/ST/140 
5 February 2010 
 (10-0666) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Seventh Session Geneva, 30 November - 2 December 2009 Original:   French 
 
  
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC 
 
Statement by HE Mrs Emilie Epaye
 
Minister of Trade and Industry  
   The delegation of the Central African Republic  wishes to express its appreciation to the 
authorities of the Swiss Confederation for hosting the Seventh WTO Ministerial Conference. 
 
 It would also like to congratulate the WT O Director-General, Mr Pascal Lamy, and the 
WTO Secretariat, Members and the development partne rs for contributing to the logistical, financial 
and technical organization of this major meeting.   Nonetheless, the Central African Republic is concerned about some negotiating issues which 
it hopes will be resolved without delay. 
 1. Concerning the Doha Agenda trade negotiations: 
The Central African Republic on the one ha nd welcomes the commitments made at the 
G-20 summits in Washington (2008), London ( 2009) and Pittsburgh (2009) to refrain from 
creating barriers to investment or trade in goods and services and ra pidly to rectify any 
measure of this nature in order to  make it consistent with the WT O rules;  and, on the other, it 
welcomes the General Assembly resolutions a dopted at the 2005 World Summit, relating to 
the special needs and problems of landlocked de veloping countries, in particular by enabling 
them to use trade and financial measures for development purposes. 
 
The Central African Republic is concerned about the " early harvest principle " regarding 
those negotiating points that have already been  brought to a favourable conclusion and is 
hoping for a successful outcome on the following negotiating items: 
  1. As regards the Agriculture  negotiations:  The Central African Republic reiterates its 
support for the proposal made by the co-sponsors of the Sectoral Initiative in Favour 
of Cotton (C-4 Group) relating to the reducti on in domestic support which distorts the 
international cotton market and proposes that  the capacities of agricultural research 
institutes should be strengthened.  On beha lf of the Central African Republic, I also 
urge all WTO Members to adopt measures to improve market access for cotton and 
cotton-derived products. 
  2. As regards Aid for Trade :  The Central African Republic attaches considerable 
importance to the Aid for Trade programme implementation process and supports the development and implementa tion of regional Aid-for-Trade programmes.  In the 
absence of regional strategies, however, it would like support to be provided for 
national strategies in cases where strategies are not yet in place at regional level. WT/MIN(09)/ST/140 
Page 2  
 
   
 3. As regards the Enhanced Integrated Framework :  The Central African Republic 
has benefited from the Integrated Fr amework programme, under which it has 
established and strengthened its institutiona l and supply capacities.  Negotiations are 
under way with the Executive Secretariat w ith a view to establishing the Enhanced 
Integrated Framework programme.  Recogni zing the benefits deriving from this 
programme, the Central African Republic tha nks the development partners that have 
honoured their commitments in putting th e Integrated Framework into place and 
urges the other partners to contribute to  the Enhanced Integrated Framework budget 
by providing the additional r esources needed for the effective implementation of this 
programme, in order to help the least developed countries mainstream trade into their 
national development plans and enhance thei r participation in international trade. 
  4. As regards Trade Facilitation :  As a landlocked country, the Central African 
Republic faces very high trade and transit costs.  It is hoping for a favourable 
agreement on trade facilitation as part of th e final outcome of the Doha Development 
Agenda.  It also trusts that the DDA will contain binding commitments to guarantee freedom of transit, acceler ate the movement, release and customs clearance of goods, 
and lower transaction costs. 
  The Central African Republic remains concer ned about challenges that could imperil the 
development outlook, in particular the economic and financial crisis and clim ate change.  The effects 
of climate change could jeopardize internationa l poverty reduction efforts and achievement of the 
Millennium Development Goals.  Everyone is aw are of the international community's current 
difficulty in finding appropriate means to co mbat the phenomenon of climate change.  The 
Central African Republic accordingly calls on bilateral and multilateral partners and the international 
organizations concerned to provide special s upport for landlocked developing countries in their 
endeavours to address these new, emerging challenges.   Lastly, the Central African Republic fully sup ports the LDC position on a variety of issues 
such as e-commerce, disproportionately affected countries, and streamlining of the WTO accession 
procedure for LDCs. 
 
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