Pacific nations avoid accepting ‘bad deal’ at WTO conference

THE Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG) says Pacific nations, including Papua New Guinea, avoided accepting a bad deal after global fish talks to curb harmful subsidies ended without agreement at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial conference in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates from Feb 26 to March 2.
According to PANG deputy coordinator Adam Wolfenden the proposed text for consideration had let the large-scale distant-water fishing fleets “off the hook” by not cutting subsidies and “undermining attempts to hold those most responsible for global overfishing accountable”.
Negotiations at the conference were extended multiple times yet failed to come to an outcome on fisheries subsidies.
“What was before ministers was an unbalanced agreement that rewarded those big fishing nations while placing more burdens on developing countries. Enormous pressure was being placed on countries to reach a deal. Agreeing to such an unfair deal would have set back sustainability and development,” Wolfenden said.
The Pacific island nations proposed calling for the cutting of subsidies for distant-water fishing fleets, however it appears to have never been formally included in the negotiation text.
“There were proposals on the table by Pacific nations to address distant-water fishing subsidies but the failure to properly include this in the revised texts by ministers shows the intransigence of the big fishing fleets and their governments to genuinely contribute to a fair and equitable outcome,” he said.
The negotiations on fisheries subsidies were mandated by the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal 14.6 which calls for the prohibition of certain forms of subsidies that contribute to overfishing while ensuring appropriate and effective differential treatment for developing nations.
“The proposal effectively allows big fishing nations, who have already built their fleets and fishing capacity, a loophole to keep providing their subsidies for fishing. This fails the mandate text,” Wolfenden said.
“What was ultimately being asked of developing countries, including Pacific nations, was to sacrifice their development ambitions in favour of allowing those big distant water fishing nations to continue to provide subsidies and fish Pacific resources. In our view this is a case of no deal is better than a bad deal.”