__________  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(09)/16 
2 December 2009 
 
 (09-6133) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Seventh Session Geneva, 30 November - 2 December 2009 Original: English 
 
 
ASEAN STATEMENT ON THE OCCASION OF THE 7TH WTO MINISTERIAL 
CONFERENCE IN GENEVA, 1 DECEMBER 2009 
 
 
 The ten Member States of the Association of  Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), comprising 
Brunei Darussalam, the Kingdom of Cambodia, th e Republic of Indonesia, the Lao People's 
Democratic Republic, Malaysia, the Union of Myanma r, the Republic of the Philippines, the Republic 
of Singapore, the Kingdom of Thailand and the So cialist Republic of Viet Nam, reaffirm our 
determination to uphold and strengt hen the rules-based multilateral tr ading system, and the centrality 
of the WTO as an institution to safeguard and promote further trade liberalisation, 
 We strongly reaffirm the pledges made by our Leaders at the 15th ASEAN Summit in 
Thailand, which fully supports the G20 statement in  Pittsburgh to conclude the Doha Round by 2010, 
and also reiterated by our leaders at the 17th APEC Economic Leaders' meeting in Singapore. 
 We urge Members to use the progress achieved to  date, including with regard to modalities, 
as the basis for continuing on the remaining negotia tions.  We believe successful conclusion of this 
Round would not only serve as the most effective means of dealing with protectionist pressures but 
also deliver a global stimulus package need ed to sustain and secure our recovery.   
 We reiterate the urgent need to translate these political commitments into tangible progress in 
the negotiations.  We have, therefore, tasked our r espective representatives in Geneva to work closely 
with other WTO members in bridging the differences.  We believe that a display of leadership and 
political will, as well as concrete and constructive enga gement from all parties, is vital to the success 
of the Round.  We urge members to exercise pr agmatism and flexibility, and to utilise all possible 
avenues to accelerate the pace of negotiations, incl uding text-based negotia tions under the Geneva 
Chair led process, to secure convergence on a final p ackage.  Given our common goal, we agree that 
there should be an opportunity for Ministers to engage in early 2010. 
 We reaffirm our commitment to reject all forms of protectionism, to keep our markets open 
and to refrain from introducing new barriers to trade and investment.  We reiterate our support for the 
WTO's efforts to monitor members' commitments in this  regard to assist efforts to resist protectionist 
pressures and ensure transparency in  the measures taken in response to the crisis.  We will also work 
with members to strengthen the WTO's capabilities to  undertake regular monitoring of such measures 
in an objective and comprehensive manner.  
 We believe the crisis needs a global soluti on.  Therefore, we support the endeavour to 
strengthen the work of the World Trade Organization to effect a stronger and better functioning 
multilateral trading system, including through enhanced participation and transparency. 
 We recognize that the accessions of new members will greatly strengthen the multilateral 
trading system.  We, therefore, welcome the accession of Viet Nam since the 6th Ministerial 
Conference, and reiterate our support for the ear ly accession of the Lao People's Democratic Republic 
to the WTO.