91402
    DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
            (Joint Ministerial Committee
                       of the
   Boards of Governors of the Bank and the Fund
                       on the
Transfer of Real Resources to Developing Countries)

      NINETIETH MEETING
WASHINGTON, D.C. – OCTOBER 11, 2014


                                                      DC/S/2014-0060

                                                      October 11, 2014




                        Statement by

                   Mr. Roberto Azevedo
                    Director-General

                 World Trade Organization
                                               Statement by

                                          Mr. Roberto Azevedo
                                           Director-General

                                       World Trade Organization

                              90th Meeting of the Development Committee

                                             October 11, 2014
                                             Washington, D.C.


The WTO forecasts world trade growth of 3.1% in 2014 and 4.0% in 2015.

These forecasts have been downgraded due to weaker-than-expected GDP growth and muted import
demand in the first half of the year, particularly in natural resource exporting regions.

Imports of developing and emerging economies have been growing faster than developed countries.
Although this pace has slowed recently, they are contributing significantly to the recovery of the global
economy.

Trade has been a significant factor supporting the integration of developing and emerging economies in
the global economy in the past decade.

Developed and developing countries now each account for roughly 50% of trade and output.

However, as discussed this morning at the IMFC, for the past three years global trade has no longer been
growing much faster than global GDP.

We have been living off the liberalisation of the past. And productivity gains arising from that
liberalisation seem to be diminishing.

We need to create the conditions for a new wave of trade expansion, to help deepen the integration of the
developing world into the global economy.

We believe that this is better achieved multilaterally – ensuring that no-one is excluded, particularly
developing and least-developed countries.

The Bali package agreed by WTO members last year delivered a great deal for developing countries. This
included the Trade Facilitation Agreement which is aimed at cutting the costs of trade and easing the
flows of goods.

Once implemented this Agreement provides for a great deal of support to be delivered to developing
countries and LDCs.

To help provide this support we launched the WTO TFA Facility in July, which will ensure that no
country is left behind and all are able to access the support they need under the Agreement.
But partnership will be key to the success of this work. And so I am pleased to say that we announced a
strengthened partnership with the World Bank yesterday.

Our two organizations will work together at the highest level to identify sources of funding and support.

These efforts will ensure that developing countries are able to obtain the support they need to tackle the
bottlenecks and high costs that impact so heavily on the competitiveness of traders in many developing
countries.

The World Bank's Trade Facilitation Support Program is very important in this regard.

I urge ministers to keep this issue high on their list of priorities for development assistance – and to
recognise the contribution that it can make in generating economic growth and development.

I would also like to commend the International Financial Corporation – and the whole World Bank Group
– for its continued involvement in supporting trade finance in low-income countries.

Again, our cooperation here has been excellent.

Let us ensure that such fruitful cooperation in support of development continues across all of these areas
in future.

Thank you for your attention.




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