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Monday was my birthday and I received a lot of flowers. I thank
you again for them. But a successful MC12 is an even better present.
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
MC12 is coming to a close - a bit later than expected but with an
unprecedented package of deliverables. Not in a long while has the WTO seen
such a significant number of multilateral outcomes.
We came here to deliver results. Back on Sunday which feels like
a long time ago we recognized that even one or two deliverables would be
better than none. And now we nearly got them all.
Excellencies, you will not
be going home empty-handed.
You stepped up and delivered in every area we have been working
on. For much of this week, you have worked day and night. You have waited
patiently for long hours as others tried to get through a negotiation.
Monday was my birthday and I received a lot of flowers. I thank
you again for them. But a successful MC12 is an even better present.
The package of agreements you have reached will make a difference
to the lives of people around the world. The outcomes demonstrate that the WTO
is, in fact, capable of responding to the emergencies of our time. They show
the world that WTO members can come together, across geopolitical fault lines,
to address problems of the global commons, and to reinforce and reinvigorate
this institution. They give us cause to hope that strategic cooperation will be
able to exist alongside growing strategic competition.
In response to the ongoing shocks from COVID-19, the declaration
you just adopted will make access to medical supplies and components more predictable
in this pandemic and in the next one. The TRIPS waiver compromise will
contribute to ongoing efforts to deconcentrate and diversify vaccine
manufacturing capacity, so that a crisis in one region does not leave others
cut off.
In response to the worst food security crisis in decades, you have
taken steps to make trade in food and agricultural inputs more predictable, and
hence prices less volatile. And you are going to make it easier for the World
Food Programme to do its difficult job of feeding
millions of the world's most vulnerable people.
On fisheries subsidies, WTO members have for the first time
concluded an agreement with environmental sustainability at its heart. This is
also about the livelihoods of the 260 million people who depend directly or
indirectly on marine fisheries.
The agreement prohibits support for Illegal, Unreported and
Unregulated (IUU) fishing. It bans support for fishing in overfished stocks.
And it takes a first but significant step forward to curb subsidies for overcapacity
and overfishing by ending subsidies for fishing on the unregulated high seas.
As important as the prohibitions is the transparency that will finally shed
light on the actual level of subsidies going to fishing. And you have committed
to further negotiations to build on these disciplines.
You found a way to extend the e-commerce moratorium along with the
work programme, thus preserving the enabling
environment the WTO provides to the global digital economy and the millions of
businesses and jobs that depend on it.
And amid the widespread recognition that the WTO's core functions
need to be updated and improved, you have initiated a Member-driven process of
institutional reform. You recognized the role trade and the WTO can play in
empowering women, achieving environmental goals, and expanding opportunities
for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises.
During the long days and longer nights this week, there were many moments when I feared we would come out of MC12
with nothing at all. And I found myself thinking of a line attributed to
Winston Churchill. "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the
courage to continue that counts." I want to thank God for that courage
because there were moments when I did not know whether it would work.
And Excellencies, we succeeded, and we
have determined to continue.
Members have agreed to pick up right where we left off this
morning, raising the possibility of an earlier MC13. I promise to go back to
work immediately. Get ready, tomorrow is another day post-MC12.
While we all agree on the vital importance of agriculture in our
economies, differences on some issues, including public stockholding for food
security purposes, domestic support, cotton and market access, meant that we
could not achieve consensus on a new roadmap for future work. But here too,
Members found a renewed sense of purpose: they are determined to keep at it on
the basis of existing mandates with a view to reaching positive outcomes at
MC13.
Excellencies, over the past
few weeks, I have seen something else that is critical to putting the WTO back
on track. Many of you have heard me complain that the WTO, though set up as a
negotiating forum, had instead turned into a diktat forum, a place where
members show up and tell each other "this is what I want, just give it to
me."
But recently, and especially among ministers this week, we have
seen genuine give-and-take. A willingness to listen to others' concerns, to
depart from long-held positions, to try to overcome the trust deficit and find
middle ground. Instead of asking themselves "is this everything we
wanted?" members asked "can we live with this?" If we can
somehow bottle this spirit, it will stand us in good stead to deliver more
results in the future. That said, I am still baffled by how you can spend so
many hours arguing over a word in a footnote.
These negotiations are always hard. As one minister said at some
point was it today? yesterday? the
day before? trade diplomacy is about balancing policy with politics: about
finding compromise deals that still deliver tangible economic benefits, but
that you can also take home and defend to your domestic constituencies. Thats
a tall order and it's why we should all appreciate how important it was that
you were able to come together this week.
Excellencies, I came to the
WTO because I am firmly convinced that trade is part of the solution to the
crises of our time. This important institution can and must do more to help the
world respond to the pandemic, tackle environmental challenges, and foster
greater socioeconomic inclusion. So I am proud, honoured
and relieved to have been able to support your achievements at MC12. And I
believe the results you have delivered here are a foundation for more in the
months and years ahead.
Before closing, I want to express my deep gratitude, first to my
husband, who is seated right here. I want to thank the MC12 Chair, His
Excellency Timur Suleimenov,
First Deputy Chief of Staff of the President of
Kazakhstan, who has guided our processes here with good humour,
charm, and patience.
He has been ably assisted by Vice-Chairs His Excellency Jerome
Walcott, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Barbados; His
Excellency Don Farrell, Minister for Trade and Tourism of Australia; and Her
Excellency Harriet Ntabazi, Minister of State for
Trade of Uganda, as well as our tireless Minister-Facilitators, Her Excellency
Betty Maina, Cabinet Secretary for Industrialization,
Trade and Enterprise Development of Kenya; His Excellency Damien O'Connor,
Minister of Trade and Export Growth of New Zealand; Her Excellency Kamina Johnson Smith, Minister of Foreign Affairs and
Foreign Trade of Jamaica; and Her Excellency Keisal
Peters, Minister of State with Responsibility for Foreign Affairs and
Foreign Trade of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
I also want to thank Her Excellency Ambassador Zhanar
Aitzhanova of Kazakhstan, who has been working on
this ministerial for almost three years now, and probably never wants to hear
"MC12" ever again.
And let me once again pay tribute to the Government of Kazakhstan
for years of cooperation, and especially for the graciousness with which they
weathered the many setbacks on the road to this week, including the shift in
venue from Nur-Sultan to Geneva. I also thank the
Swiss authorities for their support, generosity, and flexibility.
I would like to thank once more the ministers and delegates
present here, and the heads of state and government and the capital-based
officials who played a big part in making these results possible. Geneva
ambassadors I know I can say tough things to you, but I want you to know how
grateful I am for your weekends and nights of hard work.
My renewed thanks go to the Chairs of the negotiating groups,
especially Ambassador Santiago Wills of Colombia, our fisheries chair, and to
GC Chair Ambassador Didier Chambovey of Switzerland,
his predecessor and pandemic response Facilitator, Ambassador Dacio Castillo of Honduras, and TRIPS Council Chair
Ambassador Lansana Gberie
of Sierra Leone. Your incredibly persistent efforts made today's outcomes
possible. I also want to thank the chair of the agriculture negotiations,
Ambassador Gloria Abraham Peralta of Costa Rica we would not have been this
well positioned for post-MC12 work without you.
And finally, I want to thank the wonderful WTO Secretariat, the
Deputy Directors-General, and my own team. I know how much you have put in to
making this conference a success. And I hope you will all get some sleep this
weekend.
Chair, we have one more matter to take care of. One of the fun
things about being DG is the opportunity to bang a gavel I noticed you have
been getting pretty good at it yourself. And so, in line with WTO
tradition, I have the pleasure to present you this ceremonial gavel of your
own, as a token of our thanks. Thanks to Members' efforts this week under your
chairmanship, you have good reasons to use it!