The latest World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks have failed to break a deadlock on reform aimed at strengthening rules on harmful fisheries subsidies, with the EU and the US blaming India for thwarting the deal.
WTO’s General Council meeting, which took place in Geneva, Switzerland over July 22-23, was tasked with adopting a text addressing some critical issues left out of the fisheries subsidies agreement sealed in June 2022.
While the 2022 agreement – which has yet to take effect – prohibits subsidies for illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing as well as catching depleted fish stocks, additional rules had been put forward to tackle subsidies contributing to overcapacity and overfishing more broadly.
The latest draft reached a broad consensus among the WTO members but was blocked by India, which strongly criticised the text and called for major changes, according to EU and US delegates.
As a result, talks were downgraded from decision to discussion even before the General Council meeting started.
“The elements in India’s communications are familiar to us, and we have discussed them repeatedly in the past,” said EU ambassador to the WTO, Joao Aguiar Machado.
“The completely different approach proposed by India … is not supported across the membership, and it is not helpful, in our view, to reach consensus.”
Global fisheries subsidies stand at an estimated $35 billion per year, of which $22 bln proves harmful through negatively impacting vulnerable marine ecosystems and habitats.
China makes up the largest share of fisheries subsidies worldwide, followed by the US, South Korea, the EU, and Japan.
Ending harmful subsidies in sectors like fishing and agriculture is considered crucial to close the funding gap required to meet the targets set out in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
INDIA’S DEMANDS
India already reportedly blocked negotiations during WTO’s 13th ministerial conference (MC13) in February, demanding a 25-year transition period for the new rules as well as greater penalties for countries that deliver the bulk of fisheries subsidies.
“We are deeply concerned for our future work here in the WTO on these negotiations,” said US Ambassador Maria Pagan, adding India’s proposal reintroduced topics that had already been debated and ruled out in previous meetings.
“When one’s ideas don’t gather support, the only way forward is by being pragmatic and trying to converge. It is certainly not by repeating ad nausea ideas that one’s views will prevail,” said the EU’s Aguiar Machado.
The meeting also failed to reach an agreement on the long-awaited agricultural reform, aimed at enhancing food security, including through addressing the challenges developing countries face when buying food at government-set prices for public stock.
WTO members did not converge on the latest proposal, submitted by Brazil and largely focused on tackling trade distortions and bolstering market access opportunities.
“It is most unfortunate that we find ourselves in the same place we have been for 20 years,” said Pagan. “If we want to deliver on agriculture at MC14, we really need to consider new approaches.”
By Sergio Colombo – sergio@carbon-pulse.com
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