WTO Rules Committee Chair Confident 2nd Wave of Fisheries Talks Will Wrap by MC13
Iceland's Ambassador Einar Gunnarsson, chair of the World Trade Organization's Negotiating Group on Rules, feels confident WTO members can meet the goal of finishing the second wave of fisheries subsidies talks by the 13th Ministerial Conference, which is set to take place in February 2024, the WTO said Feb. 20. Issuing his remarks after "positive consultations with over 30 delegations in recent weeks," Gunnarsson said he also will call four clusters of meetings, dubbed "fish weeks," to boost negotiations. The meetings will be held until July.
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Gunnarsson said all members pointed to the "development of disciplines on subsidies contributing to overcapacity and overfishing" as "central to the negotiations." Other members discussed remaining issues they wished to tackle in the second wave of fisheries talks, including "disciplines on subsidies contingent on fishing outside the subsidizing member's jurisdiction; provisions on transparency in respect of the use of forced labour in fishing and fishing related activities; and the issue of non-specific fuel subsidies."
Gunnarsson said he held more than 30 bilateral sessions, all “uniformly positive in tone." He said delegations "expressed great enthusiasm to fully re-engage, and to work hard to fulfil the mandate that we received from ministers at MC12." The next fisheries subsidies meeting will be held the week of March 20.