WTO and Fisheries Workshop
The Commonwealth Secretariat, in co-operation with FAO, UNCTAD, WTO and the ACP, organised a workshop, held at UNCTAD, Geneva on 21 and 22 March, 2006. The main objective of the workshop was to facilitate dialogue on the Impact of WTO Agreements and the current WTO negotiations on the fisheries sector.
Participants included representatives of FAO Member countries, representatives from FAO, OECD, European Commission, UNCTAD, the WTO Appellate Body Secretariat and the ACP Secretariat.
The workshop consisted of eight sessions, including discussions on the following:
- Fish trade and Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA);
- Fisheries Subsidies;
- Fishery Access Agreements;
- Quality and Safety Aspects for fish trade;
- Financing infrastructure and fishing activities; and
- Fisheries and labelling and capacity-building.
The sessions included presentations from representatives from FAO, OECD, the European Commission, UNCTAD, the WTO Appellate Body Secretariat, the ACP Secretariat, and the Commonwealth Secretariat.
The Commonwealth Secretariat made a presentation which focused specifically on the good and real reasons for the current WTO negotiations on fisheries subsidies. The following issues were highlighted:
- The current fisheries statistics on world trade in fish and fish products;
- Arguments underlying the 'demandeurs' proposals;
- The commercial reasons behind the need for the regulation of trade in fish and fish products covering the aggressive market interests of the 'Friends of Fish' Group, the EU, Japan, Korea and Taiwan;
- The three main pillars of the EU's commercial Fisheries Policies (CFP) which results in its current high share of world trade in fish and fish products (subsidies, high tariffs and Rules of Origin);
- The structure of the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures and its shortcomings in relation to fish and fish products;
- An analysis of the legal architecture proposed by New Zealand and Brazil for new disciplines on fisheries subsidies and its potential impact on the interests of Commonwealth Small Vulnerable Coastal States; and
- The potential risk of introducing, at the WTO, disciplines on fisheries subsidies which lead to imposition of sanctions by the DSB on the basis of its environmental effect, per se.
To access the Commonwealth powerpoint presentation please click here.
The European Commission's (Director-General (DG) Fish) presentation focused on the EU's new approach to Fisheries Partnership Agreements under its Common Fisheries Policy. The DG Fish representative particularly highlighted its position that fisheries should not be part of its EPA negotiations with the ACP member countries. Negotiating bilateral fisheries access agreements was, in its view, more preferable.
Other presentations focused mainly on the current rules, the role of international organisations in assisting countries to understand and implement the rules and compliance. These latter issues are also currently being undertaken by institutions such as CTA, the WTO, ICTSD, AITIC.