At least 108 ministers met virtually on Thursday 15 July at the World Trade Organization (WTO). In the run-up to the 12th Ministerial Conference in November, they are tasked with making progress towards an agreement on fisheries subsidies.
Negotiations on these issues have been going on for over 20 years now. WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has set herself the task of completing the dossier and facilitating an agreement between member countries on a deal before the end of the year. “An agreement will increase the chances of success in other areas”, she said at the start of the long day of talks.
The aim of the agreement is to end the subsidies that lead to overfishing around the world. Subsidies that support illegal, unreported, and unregulated fisheries and overfishing are targeted.
In the compromise text that was proposed on 30 June by the Chairman of the WTO Negotiating Group on Rules, Santiago Wills (see EUROPE 12754/6), disagreements remain between member countries.
They are divided firstly on the issue of special and preferential treatment for certain countries. Based on the first 50 statements made on the morning of 15 July, all ministers agree that special treatment is an important element of the negotiations that should be part of the agreement, according to WTO spokesperson Keith Rockwell. However, the scope of these special treatments and how to balance flexibility with the need to ensure sustainability is still an issue.
The second major area of disagreement is whether or not the agreement should be extended to so-called non-specific fuel subsidies. “Many members are opposed to it”, according to the WTO spokesperson.
The EU is one of the delegations that consider that this issue should not be dealt with in the framework of this agreement on fisheries subsidies.
Feasibility of an agreement before the end of the year
According to the first speeches at midday, all members agreed on the severity of the problem of overfishing. “No country has expressed doubts about the feasibility of reaching an agreement before the 12th Ministerial Conference in November”, said Mr Rockwell.
In his speech, EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis also expressed his willingness to make progress: “Protecting global fisheries resources is a shared responsibility and, as such, achieving a multilateral outcome is the only way to address the issue of harmful subsidies”.
EUROPE will report on the outcome of the discussions.
See the text presented on 30 June: https://bit.ly/2V0KDxz (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)