Your Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta,
Your Excellency President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf,
Ministers,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great honour to be joined by President Kenyatta and President Sirleaf today. 

Madam President, I understand that when Kenya celebrated its national day on Saturday, President Kenyatta granted you the highest national honour: Chief of The Order of The Golden Heart of Kenya.

We join President Kenyatta in his salute to you. 

I think I speak for all WTO members in welcoming you to our 10th Ministerial Conference — and in congratulating you on this accession.

I want to pay tribute to your engagement and leadership which has brought us to this point. 

It is particularly appropriate that, at this first Ministerial Conference in Africa, we are welcoming a new African member.

The approval of Liberia’s accession marks the WTO’s 35th completed accession process.

These are very demanding negotiations. The process is complex and includes structural reforms across many areas.

Each negotiation is distinctive, but ultimately they all represent a commitment to core values of this organization: openness, transparency, good governance, and the rule of law. 

Liberia has shown that commitment. And it has done so in the face of extremely challenging circumstances.

I pay tribute to Liberia’s efforts to overcome the scourge of Ebola.

And I hope that this achievement here today will help the country to continue on the path of hope, progress and development.

WTO membership can have a big impact.

It announces to the world that you are open for business.

It shows your determination to attract inward investment.

And it puts the power in your hands to use trade to create jobs, raise incomes, and improve people’s lives.

We will keep working with you to ensure that these benefits are delivered.

So I think that this is an historic day for Liberia.

And it is also a very proud day for the WTO.

In welcoming Liberia, we bring a new least developed country into the organisation.

Liberia will bring the number of LDCs in the WTO to 35 — more than a fifth of our membership.

We value this diversity in the way we work as an organization. And I have no doubt that Liberia will make good use of the platform that the WTO provides to make its voice heard.

So I look forward to your active participation in all aspects of the work of this Organization.

And as I understand, you have already taken important steps in that direction. On trade facilitation, for example, Liberia has been fully engaged in establishing a one-stop-shop for its customs procedures.

I hope you will keep that drive!

Just as important is that you continue your programme of reforms. For that to happen in a smooth and timely manner, we need to ensure that new members, especially the most fragile, have the tools and resources available to implement their commitments.

This is precisely the aim of the “WTO Post-Accession Implementation Support Strategy”.

So I encourage the multilateral and bilateral development communities to follow this closely and lend their support to these important efforts.

In closing, I just want to add a few words of thanks.

Over the last few months, we had the chance to interact closely with Liberia’s negotiating team — congratulations to you all. I want to thank you all for your hard work and determination.

In particular, I want to commend Minister Axel Addy for his work as Chief Negotiator. He has become a very familiar face in Geneva during this process. We would not have been successful without the kind of personal commitment that he demonstrated throughout this process. 

I would also like to thank Ambassador Joakim Reiter, as Chairman of the Working Party. One could not wish for a more effective, knowledgeable and determined Chair. My gratitude also goes to all WTO members, and the WTO Secretariat — including Chiedu Osakwe, Director of the Accessions Division — for their constructive role in this process.

It takes many pairs of hands to build a vibrant multilateral trading system.

And I am sure that Liberia’s contribution will help to strengthen the system for the benefit of all.

So on behalf of the membership: welcome to the WTO!

Thank you.