Page 36 - IB December 2021

Fisheries Fisheries

COVID REPRIEVE

CANCELLED WTO TALKS GIVE
PACIFIC TIME OUT

Subsistence fisheries in Kadavu, Fiji. Photo: SPC

By Samisoni Pareti “The final agreement must require prompt and significant
reductions in the level of subsidies provided by the largest
For Pacific island members of the World Trade Organisation, subsidisers. Fiji entered negotiations for an agreement to
the cancellation of the WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference in reduce subsidies, not one that will micro-regulate our fisheries
late November due to the spread of the Omicron variant was management and leave the bulk of subsidies in place,” added
God-sent. Minister Koya.
Given the way the text of the proposed agreement on ban- “We in the Pacific, have unique interests and challenges,
ning fishery subsidies was being pushed before the ministerial and fish and fisheries are very important to us. Therefore, Fiji
that was to be held at the WTO headquarters in Geneva from will only endorse an agreement that focuses on the sustain-
30 November to 3 December, there was little enthusiasm on able development, and the protection and preservation of
the parts of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, the fisheries resources, in a manner consistent with our own
Tonga and Vanuatu to sign on the dotted line. development needs.”
The general consensus was that the text as it stands, was A week before WTO announced the cancellation of its 30
heavily slanted in favour of the rich and wealthier nations, November ministerial in Geneva, a consortium of global and
including the so-called Distant Water Fishing Nations (DWFNs), national based non-governmental organisations had called on
the very countries that the proposed WTO agreement was sup- the world trade body to call the meeting off.
posed to control through their heavily subsidised fishing fleets. The group had wanted the WTO to agree first to a proposed
The text has undergone little change from the one Fiji re- waiver for COVID-related intellectual property rights under
jected during a WTO Ministerial last July, when it said a “one the WTO’s Agreement on Trade Related Intellectual Property
size fits all” approach would not work, and that the text was Rights (TRIPS), which they said would ensure access to treat-
weighted against the development of small-scale fisheries in ments, diagnostics and vaccines for all countries, especially
the Pacific. for poor and developing nations.
Such a text, Fiji’s trade minister Faiyaz Koya said then, “COVID-19 has exposed the WTO’s systemic priority of prof-
would permanently prevent Pacific island nations from sustain- its over people through the monopolies that are guaranteed to
ably developing their own resources by rewarding existing Big Pharma under TRIPS,” said the NGO coalition.
DWFNs fleets that grew on the back of billions of dollars of “To proceed under these circumstances would further erode
subsidies. the WTO’s legitimacy, and undermine the credibility of the
“Fiji believes that the revised text does not have all the in- new Director-General, at a time when the Organisation’s cred-
gredients to conclude the Agreement. Fiji is not satisfied with ibility is already at an all time low. The letter therefore calls
the current chair’s text. Whilst we welcome a few positive on Members to postpone the ministerial conference and direct
changes in the revised text, significant imbalances remain. all efforts to reaching an urgent agreement on the TRIPS

36 Islands Business, December 2021