WTO Members Start Text-Based Negotiations on
Fisheries Subsidies
WTO members, during the 14-18 September cluster of meetings
of the Negotiating Group on Rules, began a new phase of their work on an
agreement to curb harmful fisheries subsidies. Several members noted that the
focus on specific parts of the text was particularly useful as it helped
generate some suggestions for compromise language, as well as greater clarity
on members’ positions.
The
cluster comprised meetings of heads of delegations, technical discussions among
the Negotiating Group, and informal consultations among members and with the
Negotiating Group Chair, Ambassador Santiago Wills of Colombia. The discussions
were anchored on a consolidated draft document the chair had introduced in June
and which members in July had agreed to use as the starting point for
text-based work. Members reviewed draft language on subsidies contributing to
overcapacity and overfishing, subsidies to distant water fishing, special and
differential treatment for developing and least-developed countries, and
transparency provisions.
At
the close of the cluster of meetings, members said the week had been productive
and helped provide a fuller perspective of various positions. The chair said
the quality of the exchanges during the week, which marked the resumption of
negotiating work since the summer break, was an encouraging sign.
As
for the deadline for concluding talks, the chair noted that some members had
emphasized the importance of concluding the negotiations in 2020 as previously
agreed, and also acknowledged that some other members had questioned the
feasibility of meeting that timing, given the ongoing difficulties stemming
from the COVID-19 crisis. No member had said they were against continuing to
work towards the end-of-year deadline, and work would thus continue to be
organized with the aim of making as much progress as possible, the chair said.
He will continue to consult with members during the period before the next
cluster of fisheries subsidies meetings to be held on 5-9 October.
At
the WTO's 11th Ministerial Conference, ministers agreed, consistent with UN
Sustainable Development Goal Target 14.6, to secure an agreement in 2020 on
disciplines eliminating subsidies for illegal, unreported and unregulated
fishing and prohibiting certain forms of fisheries subsidies that contribute to
overcapacity and overfishing, with special and differential treatment for
developing and least-developed countries.