. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
WT/MIN(11)/ST/100 
16 December 2011  
 
(11-6665) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Eighth Session Geneva, 15 - 17 December 2011 Original:   French 
 
  
MOROCCO 
 
Statement by H.E. Mr Abdellatif Maazouz 
Minister of Foreign Trade 
 
 
Our Conference is taking place today in particularly difficult global economic and social 
circumstances.  Multilateralism is being put to the t est and there are fears not only for trade but also 
for entire economic sectors, particularly financial regulation, macro-economic coordination, and food 
and energy security.  All economies have been affect ed.  The Doha Round has not been spared either. 
 
This state of affairs should not, however, underm ine our confidence in the multilateral trading 
system a rules-based system which we have pa tiently and collectively built up over a period of 
decades and which should be strengthe ned and improved in order to stim ulate growth, generate wealth 
and foster development. 
 
Despite the crisis, the multilateral trading syst em has shown its resilience in the face of 
protectionist tendencies.  The WTO has played an im portant role in this regard and we would like to 
pay tribute to the WTO Director General for his relentless efforts to ma intain the cohesion and 
credibility of our Organization. 
 
The Kingdom of Morocco strongly reaffirms the importance of the Doha Round for the 
developing countries and especially the most vulnera ble among them.  The development dimension is 
the raison d'être  of this negotiating round and so it must remain. 
 
The implementation of the WTO Agreements is an opportunity to integrate our countries 
more fully into the multilateral trading system.  Howe ver, this is a task which requires huge efforts on 
the part of the developing countries.  
Transition costs require solidarity on the part of the international community and the WTO in 
supporting countries in difficulty, so that each Member , whatever its level of development or share in 
world trade, is able to benefit from the multilateral trading system.  
The "development" dimension of trade presupposes the strengthening of Aid for Trade.  It is 
true that significant resources have been mobilized  in this sphere.  We would like additional and 
predictable AFT with a stronger focus on incr easing productive capacity and the unconditional 
transfer of technology.  
The development dimension also means re -thinking the way in which countries are 
categorized in the WTO and all that that will imply in terms of flexibilities and loss of competitiveness under the future commitm ents resulting from the Doha Round. 
 WT/MIN(11)/ST/100 
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  The Doha Development Agenda launched in 2001 must remain our working basis.  The 
addition of new topics might make our workload too h eavy and dilute the DDA.  In this regard, we are 
determined to work actively with  a view to the resumption of these negotiations under a clear work 
programme and approaches agreed by the Membership as a whole.  
This requires of us all a collective effort and the political will to adopt the measures needed to 
impart renewed momentum to the negotiations.  The principles of transparency and inclusiveness 
must be kept to the fore and guide our work across all fronts.  Therein lie our collective credibility and 
the sustainability of the multilateral trading system.  
We should accordingly forge ahead with our work on the basis of the progress already 
achieved and be willing to compromise in order to  save the Doha Round, without, however, losing 
sight of its overriding objective, namely developm ent and the integration of the most vulnerable 
countries, that is, the LDCs, in the multilateral trading system.  
In these difficult times, we should reaffirm our  commitment to concluding the Doha Round as 
expeditiously as possible, for there is no credible  alternative for a rules-based multilateral trading 
system.  
To conclude, the Kingdom of Morocco is pleas ed to note the accession of Vanuatu, Samoa, 
the Russian Federation and Montenegro and wa rmly welcomes them to our Organization. 
 
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