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STORY: WTO / MC13 OPENING
TRT: 06:23
SOURCE: WTO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / FRENCH / NATS
DATELINE: 26 FEBRUARY 2024, ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
1. Various shots, delegates arriving for MC13 Opening Ceremony, ADNEC centre
2. Various shots, meeting room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, United Arab Emirates / Chairperson, World Trade Organization’s 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13):
“It is with great pleasure to welcome you all to the United Arab Emirates for the 13th session of the Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation's here in Abu Dhabi.”
4. Pan left, delegates
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, United Arab Emirates / Chairperson, World Trade Organization’s 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13):
“The WTO has been a global safety net. Offering stability, transparency and predictability to the international trade and the WTO has contributed to raising living standards, improving employment opportunities, and enabling the expansion of trade in goods and services.”
6. Various shots, delegates
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, United Arab Emirates / Chairperson, World Trade Organization’s 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13):
“The multilateral trading system, with the WTO at its core is at a critical juncture. It Is confronting many challenges. We have witnessed shifting of polarities and addressing climate change and sustainability issues. Many countries are experiencing debts and cost of living pressures, food security, and a slow recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
8. Pan left, delegates
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General, World Trade Organization (WTO):
“It's wonderful to be here in the UAE and in the Gulf region, which for centuries has been a vital crossroads for goods, people and ideas.”
10. Pan left, delegates
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General, World Trade Organization (WTO):
“Success is changing the tone about the WTO both outside and within it. Yes, we will always have our naysayers and detractors, but there is no doubt that members have shown that we can deliver when members roll up their sleeves and muster the requisite political will.”
12. Med shot, delegates
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General, World Trade Organization (WTO):
“We need to convert improved atmospherics into concrete results. We need to show the world that not only does the WTO underpin over three-quarters of global goods trade, it is also a forum where members deliver new benefits for people through trade.”
14. Med shot, delegates
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General, World Trade Organization (WTO):
“Without cooperation on trade, we would move towards an increasingly fragmented world economy, and all of these priorities would become harder, costlier and in some cases impossible to achieve.”
16. Various shots, delegates
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, United Arab Emirates / Chairperson, World Trade Organization’s 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13):
“The Ministerial Conference so agrees.”
18. Med shot, delegates
19. SOUNDBITE (French) Azali Assoumani, President, Comoros:
"With membership in the WTO, my country will pursue its sustainable development goals and poverty eradication, notably by accelerating investments in strategic sectors such as agriculture, tourism, the environment, the maritime sector, and the digital economy."
20. Med shot, delegates
21. SOUNDBITE (English) José Ramos-Horta, President, Timor-Leste:
“Timor-Leste obtained our first WTO observer status in December 2016. So today I and the whole delegation are overwhelmed with joy to be witnesses as WTO members officially adopt our accession package, sealing Timor-Leste's official membership in the organization.”
22. Med shot, delegates
23. SOUNDBITE (English) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General, World Trade Organization (WTO):
“I'm so delighted and touched to join the MC13 chair in congratulating the governments and peoples of Comoros and Timor-Leste, and in welcoming them as new members of our WTO family, bringing our total membership to 166.”
24. Pan left, delegates clapping
25. Wide shot, WTO Director-General, UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Trade,press conference
26. SOUNDBITE (English) Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, United Arab Emirates / Chairperson, World Trade Organization’s 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13):
“In the upcoming days, delegations will build on the months of work already undertaken in Geneva to try and achieve consensus on a range of outcomes. This necessity for consensus is a great strength of the organization. Every agreement that makes up the WTO is approved by every member. Naturally, the need to find consensus can also make it difficult to predict exactly what form will the outcomes from Ministerial Conferences take.”
27. Various shots, press conference audience
28. SOUNDBITE (English) Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, United Arab Emirates / Chairperson, World Trade Organization’s 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13):
“We have a long week of negotiations ahead of us, and the final outcome may not be certain until the final swing of my gavel. However, at a time of uncertainty, it is heartening to see ministers from all over the world gathering here in Abu Dhabi in good faith efforts to find consensus.”
29. Various shots, press conference audience
30. SOUNDBITE (English) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General, World Trade Organization (WTO):
“I have not seen such excitement in a long time, and I think there were two things that were exciting so if you were there you saw for yourself. The accessions, because we haven't had any accessions in eight years. This generated a lot of excitement. Two: the ratifications, which we celebrated. By the end of this week, we will now have 70 ratifications. That leaves us only 40 for Fisheries Subsidies one, which means that we're within sight of being able to ratify, the Fisheries Subsidies Agreement and if we do that, it will be the fastest ratification. So, I think those things, have generated a lot of excitement. How do I see things going for the rest of the meeting? Well, we have a number of very important deliverables on the table, that we are trying to achieve. These are things that matter for people.”
31. Various shots, press conference audience
The 13th World Trade Organization (WTO)’s 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) opened in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), today (26 Feb), with UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade, Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi as the Chairperson of the conference.
The opening ceremony was attended by Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
Two new economies concluded their accession process: Comoros and Timor-Leste.
Eight members have deposited their instrument of acceptance of the Fisheries Subsidies Agreement adopted at MC12, bringing the total number of WTO members that have formally accepted the Agreement to 69.
