US Accepts Historic WTO Fishery Subsidy Accord

The United States on Tuesday formally accepted a landmark agreement banning harmful fisheries subsidies, becoming the first among the world’s largest fishing nations to do so.

WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala hailed the move to bring the agreement closer to coming into force.

“This strong demonstration of support by the United States for the WTO’s work toward ocean stability reflects a significant increase in momentum among the membership to implement this historic agreement,” he said in a statement.

Prior to the announcement, only Singapore, Seychelles and Switzerland had formally ratified the deal.

After more than two decades of negotiations toward banning subsidies that encourage overfishing and threaten the sustainability of the planet’s fish stocks, a deal, albeit overboard, is finally at last. was sealed in June.

The agreement bans subsidies that contribute to fishing that is illegal, unrestricted or unregulated, or overfished stocks, but it stops short of banning subsidies that contribute to overfishing more broadly.

Members continue to negotiate outstanding issues, with the next WTO Ministerial Conference to be held in the UAE in February 2024 agreeing on additional provisions of the Agreement.

For the 2022 agreement to enter into force, two-thirds of the 164 WTO members must deposit “instruments of ratification” with the Geneva-based global trade body.

Upon depositing Washington’s instrument of ratification, US Trade Representative Catherine Tay said her country was proud to be one of the first to sign “the first multilateral trade agreement with environmental sustainability at its core”.

“It will help improve the lives of fishermen and workers in the United States and elsewhere, and we look forward to building on this agreement with other WTO members,” she said in a statement.

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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)