Fiji calls for action
Minister determined to achieve a comprehensive agreement
FIJI is calling for more action in global fishing trade to protect fishing resources. This followed its ratification in October last year of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade Manoa Kamikamica reiterated Fiji’s position on fisheries subsidies in an extraordinary meeting of OACPS ministers of trade convened virtually over the weekend.
“We remain resolute in our determination to achieve a comprehensive agreement that meaningfully addresses overcapacity and overfishing, while providing appropriate and effective special and differential treatment,” Mr Kamikamica said.
He called for stronger disciplines on the world’s largest subsidisers.
“Our tuna stocks whilst healthy cannot be deemed free-of-danger.
“Harmful subsidies need to be brought to a stand-still and rolledback, before it is too late for our Pacific Ocean.
“This was the crux of Fiji’s proposal in July last year, when the negotiations on Fish two started.”
Fiji is demanding that “subsidies contingent on fishing and fishing related activities in areas beyond the national jurisdiction of the subsidising member to be stopped and disciplined”.
Fishing subsidies are estimated by the UN Conference on Trade and Development to be “as high as $35 billion worldwide, of which $20 billion directly contributes to overfishing”.
The Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) is a grouping of 79 member states from Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific that strives to achieve the sustainable development of its members and their progressive integration into the world economy.