President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday officially opened the 10th World Trade Organisation (WTO) Conference with African drum beats, alongside Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed and WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo.
After being welcomed into the venue at Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), Mr Kenyatta introduced a rhythm by beating his drum musically, and was then echoed by Ms Mohammed. Upon Mr Azevedo's turn, he first seemed hesitant leaving the audience laughing, when he beat the drum just once, producing an off beat.
The President set the ball rolling at the conference, after giving a speech urging WTO to deliver equitable growth for African countries and other developing nations in the world.
“As the continent with the lowest participation in global trade, and the world’s youngest and fastest growing populations, the world will change for the better from an Africa that trades more good and services with more markets,” President Kenyatta said.
The talks however, reached a standoff on Wednesday after developed nations in the European Union and Australia insisted that a deal on prohibition of agricultural subsidies, and a package for the Least Developed Countries could not be reached, therefore the talks should move on to more pressing issues.
“Failure to deliver on this (agreement) would mean that the outcome would be cosmetic and the credibility of WTO would crumble,” said Brazil Foreign Affairs Minister Mauro Luiz Iecker Vieira while opposing the suggestion.
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