Ministerial Conference - Seventh Session - Geneva, 30 November 2 December 2009 - Democratic Republic of the Congo - Statement by Mr Albert Kwete Minga Bope - Secretary General for Foreign Trade

World Trade Organization WT/MIN(09)/ST/133 28 January 2010 (100465) MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE Seventh Session Geneva, 30 November  2 December 2009 Original: French DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO Statement by Mr Albert Kwete Minga Bope SecretaryGeneral for Foreign Trade Let me begin by thanking the Swiss Government for its warm welcome, and the DirectorGeneral and Secretariat of the WTO for their excellent organization of this meeting. Since the last Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong in December 2005, the global situation has drastically changed, especially from an economic, trade and development perspective. The food, energy and financial crises we are experiencing each constitute a challenge and a concern in their own right, yet they form a whole. In this context, therefore, we must work together on the basis of mutual solidarity to prepare ourselves for what lies ahead. In relation to the Doha Development Round of multilateral trade