Member nations have basis of agreement: UNCTAD official
An agreement on elimination of ‘harmful’ fisheries subsidies is likely to be the only major outcome at the forthcoming meeting of the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) highest decision-making body called the ‘Ministerial Conference’, according to the head of the principal United Nations (UN) agency handling issues related to trade, investment and development.
On what could probably be among the ‘deliverables’ at the WTO’s Ministerial Conference meeting at Buenos Aires (Argentina) in December 2017, Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary-General, UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), said: “I cannot quite point at a concrete set of harvests. However, one thing that is increasingly looking certain is the (agreement on) removal of harmful fisheries subsidies.”
In an exclusive interview to The Hindu on the sidelines of an event organised by the industry body FICCI and the non-profit organisation CUTS International, Mr. Kituyi, said, “That (elimination of ‘harmful’ fisheries subsidies) could be concretely harvested (at the WTO’s Buenos Aires meet). The last time I checked, they (the WTO member countries) were already discussing, negotiating on the text, which means they have a basis of an agreement. I don’t know of any other major area where there can be, or is, much optimism.”
In May, a UN statement cited fisheries experts from UNCTAD and said, “Harmful fishing subsidies (globally) that contribute to overfishing are estimated to be as high as $35 billion.”
On whether a ‘permanent solution to the issue of public stock-holding for food security purposes’ would be a part of the outcomes as it is an issue of huge importance to developing countries including India, Mr. Kituyi, who was earlier Kenya’s Minister of Trade and Industry, said, “maybe… That could also happen in Buenos Aires.” He, however, did not elaborate.
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