WTO agrees ‘pivotal’ subsidies curb

At the fifth Fish Week held on 18 to 22 September, members expressed their support for the draft text outlining how this will be achieved and agreed to use it as the starting point for negotiations.

Chair of the negotiations, Icelandic ambassador, Einar Gunnarsson, said the week had been ‘pivotal’. “In this week, we have turned in earnest toward text-based deliberations,” he said.

“Members increasingly are engaging in the negotiations at full steam. This is great news, as it demonstrates the determination of everyone here to do everything possible to reach agreement by December.”

The draft text has been circulating since the beginning of September and is not intended as the final outcome, said the chair.

“Given the clear mandate from you to treat the draft text as a starting point for the text-based negotiations, and your apparent readiness to engage in text-based negotiations, I believe it is high time to start collecting your specific suggestions for modifications to the text,” he said.

“I want to ask you to come well prepared to the next Fish Week in two weeks’ time with your sleeves rolled up and ready to elaborate your thoughts with specific textual ideas,” he added.

At the 12th Ministerial Conference, held in June last year, WTO members forged an historic Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies pledging to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, ban support for overfishing and end subsidies for fishing on the unregulated high seas.

Two-thirds of members will need to endorse the agreement for it to enter into force. Progress is being made on the Agreement of Fisheries Subsidies with 43 formal acceptances now received and discussions will continue at the next Fish Week, held on 9 to 13 October 2023.