. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
WT/MIN(11)/14 
15 December 2011 
 (11-6539) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Eighth Session Geneva, 15 - 17 December 2011 Original:   English 
 
  
OPENING ADDRESS BY H.E. MR. OLUSEGUN OLUTOYIN AGANGA 
FEDERAL MINISTER OF TRADE AND INVESTMENT, NIGERIA 
 
CHAIRMAN OF THE EIGHTH SESSION OF THE 
WTO MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
 
15 DECEMBER 2011 
  
 I am deeply honoured to address this eighth session of the WTO's Ministerial Conference.  Allow me at the outset to thank you all for inviting Nigeria to chair this Ministerial Conference.   
  With about 167 million people, Nigeria has the largest population in Africa.  It has about 80 million hectares of arable land, 33 solid minerals in commercial quantity.   It is the 7
th largest 
producer of crude oil and has about the 8th largest gas reserves in the world.  It has recorded an 
average growth of about 7% in the last ten years and is also Africa's second biggest economy.  This 
means that trade is vitally important to our people and, indeed the continent.   Nigeria is a firm 
believer in a strong, fair, transparent, credible, ru les-based multilateral trading system embodied in the 
WTO and the benefits it provides.  Under Nigeria's official development plan – Vision 2020 – Nigeria 
aims to become one of the World's top 20 economies.   It will therefore continue to rely on the 
predictability and security that the multilateral tr ading system guarantees to meet its economic and 
developmental objectives and reforms.   Our Ministerial meeting once again takes place against the backdrop of a challenging global 
economic climate, which has worsened in recent months. Colleagues, these are tough times for the 
world economy and there is no early end in sight.  Debt levels and the volatil ity of financial markets 
are rising and low growth levels persist. There is  a slowdown in trade and a drop in foreign direct 
investment flows, volatility in food and fuel prices and high unemployment levels also persist.  The 
economic crisis is further aggravated by perceptions  that the political responses of governments have 
so far been insufficient to convince markets about credible exit strategies.  In short, we must recognise 
that the world has changed.  The socio-economic and political environment in 2001 when Doha was 
launched is very different from what we have today in 2011. 
  It is usually in a challenging economic envir onment like this that there is greater political 
pressure to halt or even reverse the process of econom ic reform and trade liberalization.  We all know 
that some protectionist signs have been apparent in  many parts of the world.  To bow to such pressure 
would be the worst response to the present challenge.     As it did over the last two years, the WTO System with its rules and commitments continues to help us avoid a protectionist spiral similar to the one experienced as a result of the crisis in the 
1930s.  This is an important message to send to the wo rld.  But what is even more important is that 
you, Ministers responsible for Trade, send out a mess age that trade openness is particularly important 
during such challenging economic times.  We must remain aware of the fact that in a globalized WT/MIN(11)/14 
Page 2  
 
  economy, all of us are impacted more rapidly by even ts elsewhere, and that our  shared interests must 
prevail over economic nationalism.     This Ministerial meeting is an occasion for us to  review the entire breadth of WTO work. It is 
also a chance for you, Ministers, to provide politi cal guidance on the future work of the organization 
in all its pillars.  We all know that significant progr ess has been made in the Doha negotiations but the 
negotiations are currently at an impasse.  It is however my firm belief that we should not give up on 
the objectives we set for ourselves ten years ago in  Doha.  We believed th en, and I hope we still 
believe today, that trade is the engine of growth, job creation, and it must work for development.  I 
hope that during the plenary sessions and especially in the working session on the DDA we will 
provide the necessary guidance that ensures that  real progress on the Round can be achieved very 
soon.   But we also know that the WTO is more than the Doha Round.  This Ministerial is therefore 
also an opportunity for us Ministers to review  all aspects of the regular functioning of this 
Organization and to exchange ideas to help us keep our  Organization and its rules up to date so that it 
remains the centre of the international trading system.     Today the WTO has 153 Members and I am delighted to say that one of the positive outcomes from this Conference will be the expansion of our membership when we welcome four new Members 
– Vanuatu, Samoa, the Russian Federation and Mont enegro.  This will make our Organization more 
universal and inclusive and confirm that accessions are an important contribution to strengthening the 
multilateral trading system.  The more global the membership of the WTO, the stronger and more credible our Organization becomes.  It is therefore important that we continue to pay greater attention 
to the accession procedures and I am glad to note that  there is a draft decision on LDC accessions to 
the WTO which is before us at this Conference.   We congratulate and welcome our new Members. 
 
 Finally, the General Council has forwarded elements for political guidance covering three 
broad themes – the importance of the multilateral trading system and the WTO; trade and development; and the DDA.  Ministers will also ha ve the opportunity to elaborate their own views on 
these themes during our working sessions.  In additi on, a number of decisions have been forwarded 
for our adoption and reports from all WTO regular bodi es are before us for review.  We are therefore 
set for busy days ahead and here, I would like to thank Director-General Pascal Lamy and 
Ambassador Agah, Chairman of the General Counc il for their stewardship and hard work in the 
preparatory process for this Ministerial Conference.  My  hope is that by the end of this conference, we 
will have demonstrated to the world not only that the WTO is alive but that it is also fully capable of 
delivering results that matter to people everywhere .  Results that create economic growth and deliver 
development, and results that creat e wealth and jobs for our people. 
  On this note, I declare the Eighth Session of the WTO Ministerial Conference open.   
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