Qatar Submits Acceptance Letter Of WTO Fisheries Subsidies Agreement
Date
5/24/2024 3:06:14 PM
(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
Geneva, Switzerland: Qatar's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva H E Dr. Hind bint Abdulrahman Al Muftah has submitted Qatar's acceptance letter of the WTO fisheries subsidies agreement to H E Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of World Trade Organization (WTO), in the bilateral meeting held on 22 May 2024 in attendance of Ahmed Essa Al Sulaiti, Qatar's office Manager at WTO and other economic organizations in Geneva.
The negotiations of this agreement has begun with Doha's Round in 2001, and the first round was concluded with the acceptance of the fisheries subsidies agreement during the 12th Ministerial conference of the WTO held in June 2022 in aim of fulfilling the goal 14.6 of UN's sustainable development goals, which is represented by assigning a mandate to the WTO to conclude the negotiations on the regulations of canceling government support that contribute to over, unreported, and unorganized fishing while considering the needs of member developing countries.
This agreement is considered a historic success to the WTO as the first environmental focused agreement in addition to its commercial and developmental benefits. Its implementation will reduce the subsidiary that helps exhausting marine resources by 22 USD annually. The agreement blocks the subsidiary that contributed to illegal fishing, the one related to fisheries that are overfished, and the fishing in unorganized high seas that wide range foreign industrial fishing fleets benefit from.
The agreement helps provide the needs of around 260 million people who depend directly or indirectly on marine fisheries. It stipulates the necessity to provide technical aid to the less developed and developing countries members and help them build their capabilities in the aim of implementing the regulations stipulated in the agreement.
Qatar's acceptance embodies its commitment to fulfilling the global goals of sustainable development 2030, as well as supporting international efforts of improving fisheries sustainability, and renewing Qatar's commitment to its international pledges especially regarding the UN general assembly's decision no. 70 on 25 September 2015 on sustainable development goals, particularly goal no 14 regarding“keeping oceans, seas, marine resources, and use them in sustainable manner that achieves sustainable development goals”.
In compliance to supporting global efforts to achieve these goals, Qatar has approved this agreement in its formulation stages during negotiation rounds since it launched in 2001, and today by accepting it to accelerate its implementation, thus confirming its significant role as a leading country in sustainable development.
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