31 October 2024, Geneva

Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,

Ambassador Kadra Ahmed Hassan,

Ambassador Petter Ølberg,

Colleagues and Friends,

Good morning.

I would like to begin by extending my warmest welcome to all participants here today. I would also like to thank the Secretariat for their hard work for putting this event together. And my special thanks go to the Director-General, thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule. Your presence is another testimony to your strong commitment to South-South cooperation and development at the WTO.

The South-South Dialogue on LDCs and Development is one of the six pillars of China’s LDCs and Accessions Programme under the WTO Aid for Trade Initiative. The other five are the Roundtable on LDC’s accessions, internship programme, increasing participation of LDCs in WTO meetings, LDCs’ trade policy review follow-up workshops and LDCs' Experience Sharing Programme.

The China program is a good example of trilateral cooperation in the WTO, that is capacity building tailored to the needs of LDCs and developing members, implemented by the WTO Secretariat and financed by China. In addition to trilateral cooperation, China is also committed to advance south-south cooperation on the bilateral and multilateral front.

On the bilateral front, during the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Beijing Summit this September, China announced the plan to grant duty-free treatment to 100% of the tariff lines of products from LDCs with diplomatic ties with China, starting from December 1, 2024.

On the multilateral fronts, China has always been committed to the development dimensions of WTO work. We are encouraged by the development outcomes from MC13 and committed to working with all members to deliver more pragmatic development outcomes for MC14.

Talking of MC14, it is to be held in Africa in 2026. Development outcomes would carry even bigger weights for MC14 and thus the need to deliver more pragmatic development outcomes.

Last May, China circulated a communication on “Reflections on Approaches to Development Issues”, to share with the Members some reflections on improving approaches to development-related work in the WTO that would be conducive to more results. We have observed that certain reflections have already been put into practices.

First, New Perspectives. That is, to revisit long-standing issues through the lens of current challenges to revitalize discussions. For example, in the agriculture negotiations, there have been calls to revisit the different agricultural pillars through the sustainable agriculture perspective.

Second, Not Only Positions. That is, to focus on real problems and practical solutions for developing and LDC members, and get past rigid, position-based debates. For example, to set aside positions and discuss some real-world problem, there seems to be growing appetite for thematic discussions as a starting point.

Third, Incremental Steps. That is, to tackle specific issues that can be addressed practically and effectively while bearing in mind the broader systemic issues. This approach is being implemented in the CTDSS and has resulted in the development outcome of MC13. More such small steps could be taken for purpose of preparing for MC14 results.

Fourth, Stronger Capacity Building. That is, to make better utilization of WTO's resources and increase collaboration with other international organizations. This is an area that is very active.

Collaborations between the WTO Secretariat and other international organizations is getting more traction, such as the Digital Trade for Africa Initiative and Trade in Services for Development Initiative in collaborations with the World Bank, as well as joint knowledge products with other relevant IOs on subsidies, e-commerce and, most recently, carbon pricing.

Aid for Trade is an area which is undergoing improvements. After 9th Global Review of Aid for Trade this year, the Secretariat released a report on main takeaways on this event. Many good ideas are brought up.

There have been also calls to make changes to the WTO training programs to make it more relevant to new sources of growth of our time, like e-commerce or sustainability.

Last but not least, Special and Differential Treatment. That is, to uphold the SDT principle for developing and LDC members, while exploring flexible and pragmatic approaches on a voluntary basis. Of course, this would be both a principle of the negotiations and a result of the negotiations. But we need to have the negotiations first.

In addition to improve the approaches, perhaps we also need to change our mindset as well. It is often said that the development issues in the WTO are plagued by trust deficits, imbalances of rules and entrenched positions. That is true, but too pessimistic in tone and too narrow in perspective.

Actually, development, by its nature, should be a win-win game, not a zero-sum game, for developing and developed members alike, and could be so, if we could manage to find the right solutions to the real problems.

So, let’s change the mindset. Less ideology, more pragmatism. Engage in scenario-based discussions of real-world opportunities and challenges, with a view to finding opportunities of growth and development.

There are bigger tides for development of our time, such as the topics of today’s discussion, trade and development, LDC participation in global supply chains, digital trade and green transition. I expect an interactive and open exchanges of view today and sincerely hope these discussions could lead to more creative ideas for all of us, developing and developed members alike, to ride the waves of our time and achieve win-win results on development.

In conclusion, I wish the event a full success!