. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(09)/ST/63 
1 December 2009 
 (09-6138) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Seventh Session Geneva, 30 November - 2 December 2009 Original:   French 
 
  
KINGDOM OF MOROCCO 
 
Statement by HE Mr Abdellatif Maazouz
 
Minister of Foreign Trade  
   My thanks go to the Swiss Government, the Ch air of the Conference, Mr Andrés Velasco, and 
Mr Pascal Lamy, Director-General of the WTO, and to the Secretariat as a whole for all their efforts 
in ensuring the success of this Conference. 
  The Seventh Session of the WTO Ministerial Conference is taking place at a time when our countries are having to face the singular context in  which the multilateral trading system now finds 
itself.  
 All WTO Members have been affected to vary ing degrees by the impact of the food, energy, 
financial and economic crises that have struck, one after another, over the past three years.  World 
trade will have contracted by 11 per cent in  2009.  Several countries are threatened by 
macro-economic and social imbalances that may well prove impossible for some of them to overcome 
by themselves. 
 
 In Morocco, our view is that the only way to come through the crisis is to take collective 
action at both regional and international level.   My country is also convinced that trade is an important lever for recovery from the crisis.  So 
it is now time to move on to a more advanced stage in the liberalizati on of world trade, and to develop 
trade by translating our political commitments into tangible actions that will allow us to conclude the 
proceedings of the Doha Round.   We will thus be able to consolidate the ope nness and predictability of the multilateral trading 
system on a non-discriminatory and transparent basi s, establishing special and differential treatment 
for the countries of the South and African countries in  particular, and so helping them achieve greater 
integration in the global economy.   We are called upon to press for an effective and mutually advantageous opening up of our 
economies and to oppose any temptation to turn toward s protectionism, which is all the stronger in the 
current circumstances. 
  We attach considerable importance to the di scussions on the liberaliza tion of trade in goods 
and services and on trade facilitation.  WT/MIN(09)/ST/63 
Page 2  
 
   Nonetheless, other topics are also worthy of consideration.  I will single out the following 
three, namely:  
1. The protection of geographical indications; 
 
2. the cotton and banana issues;  and 
 
3. fisheries subsidies. 
 
 Although we need to ensure sustainable e xploitation of fisheries resources, it is also 
necessary to provide flexibilities for small-scal e fishing in the context of special and 
differential treatment - the purpose being to take into account the role of small-scale 
fishing in alleviating poverty and foster ing food security, especi ally in areas where 
people depend on this for their livelihood. 
 
 To Morocco's mind, the WTO can play an in creasingly important role - not only as a forum 
for negotiation but also as the guarantor of im plementation of the trade agreements reached. 
  The WTO will also have to consolidate its  technical assistance programmes through the 
Aid-for-Trade initiative, especially in the form of  support for strategies established by countries for 
their own economic and social development through trade. 
 
 It is also important for the WTO to involve the media, NGOs, parliamentarians, academia and, of course, our business communities more closely in all of these endeavours.   To conclude, I congratulate the new Members th at have joined our Organization and wish to 
take this opportunity to urge all of you to facilitate the task of de veloping countries in the process of 
accession to the WTO, so as to build up a genuinely universal system. 
  I would therefore suggest adopting a mech anism whereby countries seeking accession would 
be sponsored with a view to ensuring that thei r trade practices are in line with the WTO rules. 
 
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