Statement by Hon. Lord Stephen GREEN
Minister for Trade and Investment
United Kingdom
In Doha we committed ourselves to
strengthening the multilateral trading system so that it can play its full part
in promoting recovery, growth and development. Here, at this Conference we must
now rally behind the Chairman and the Director-General in order to take some
significant steps towards fulfilling that vision.
The WTO has proven its value in preserving the
openness of global trade. Here, at this Conference we must show its value by
significantly improving that openness.
The international trading system faces many
new challenges. But by working together here in Bali we now have the
opportunity to show that it is possible for us to reach agreement on difficult
issues – in a way that benefits us all – and which strengthens the system for
everyone, in particular the least developed amongst us. We all have had to make
some compromises, but we all stand to gain much more.
I welcome the accession of Yemen. I am
delighted that, at the end of a long road, one more Least-Developed Country has
acceded. I hope that at our next Ministerial Conference we will be able to
welcome several more LDCs as well as other nations to this organization. Accessions
strengthen the multilateral trading system, as well as strengthening the
acceding nations.
I welcome the important decisions that I hope
we will take in relation to agriculture and on the range of issues for Least-Developed
Countries. These will progress the trade agenda for all, especially the
poorest.
But most importantly I welcome the agreement
we have so nearly reached on trade facilitation. Everyone here is aware of its
significance both for jobs and growth in our economies, and in particular land locked
Least-Developed Countries. This will be a major achievement:
- one that will be welcomed by businesses
everywhere that have experienced frustrating, time consuming and costly
procedures getting their goods across borders;
- one that will avoid food rotting in trucks and ships waiting at
borders;
- one that will provide jobs and growth for every country on this
planet.