. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(09)/ST/60 
1 December 2009 
 (09-6109) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Seventh Session Geneva, 30 November - 2 December 2009 Original:   French 
 
  
MALI 
 
Statement by HE Mr Ahamadou Abdoulaye Diallo
 
Minister of Industry, Investment and Trade  
   I should like, in my turn, to express my sa tisfaction at the effective operation of the 
WTO system since its inception.  This session, a lthough not devoted to the negotiations as such, gives 
us the opportunity to ensure that its limits have not been reached. 
  Mali would like to reaffirm unequivocally its total commitment to the negotiations of the 
current Doha Development Round.  We attach th e highest importance to their successful and speedy 
conclusion.  
 The various energy and food crises that have  been followed by the global financial and 
economic crisis have highlighted the contradictions which mark the policies in their reference 
principles.  In this connection, the report of the Director-General of the WTO offering an overview of 
developments in the international trading environment is eloquent evidence of that. 
 
 It is clear from that document that there have  been serious breaches of the WTO principles 
and rules through a new rise in the granting of subsid ies for the benefit of various sectors of activity, 
protectionist measures and technical barriers to trade, all of which represent a real setback for the multilateral trading system.   In such circumstances, how could small count ries continue to have confidence in a system 
which would no longer appear to respect its own rules? 
  It is obvious that one of the consequences of the eruption and deepening of the global 
financial and economic crisis h as been an unprecedented disbursement of financial resources in 
various forms to save the basic se ctors of the economies of the developed countries.  These amounts 
according to confirmed sources have greatly exceeded about a dozen trillion US dollars. 
  The practices observed have undermined - not to say destroyed - the negotiating landscape, 
which is no longer level.  
 If the Doha Round is to succeed, all of these new distortions that have come about with the 
crisis should obviously be eradicated.   Furthermore, the principle of special and differential treatment  should be seen not just as a 
formal obligation, but as a very real commitment.  The development aspect of the Doha Round should 
not simply be confined to words;  the appropriate  form must be found and, moreover, it must be the 
vehicle of concrete actions to be undertaken by means of Aid for Trade. 
 WT/MIN(09)/ST/60 
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   Thus, Aid for Trade should be given effect th rough the mobilization of substantial additional 
and predictable resources with a view to the financ ing of infrastructure projects and the strengthening 
of productive capacities, all of which are essential fo r attracting direct foreign investment so as to 
promote the industrialization of the developing count ries.  The Enhanced Integrated Framework will 
henceforth allow the LDCs to assess full y the relevance of Aid for Trade. 
 
 As for the management of the WTO system, it must be modernized so as to take account of 
the new challenges.  In this connection, we welcom e the proposals made by India in July 2009, which 
deserve the fullest attention.  
 Finally, the free trade agreements now be ing negotiated between developed countries and 
regional blocs consisting of developing countries a nd LDCs present a great challenge for the regional 
integration of our countries accentuated by the variou s deadlocks that have occurred.  It is too often 
forgotten that Article XXIV of the GATT itself, wh ich regulates free trade agreements, is supposed to 
be the subject of negotiations in the current Doha Development Round. 
 
 Logic would have required that we finish first of all with the re-examination of this Article 
and, in the meantime, that we observe the status quo.  
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