The Philippines is in the process of ratifying the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies of the World Trade Organization (WTO), assuring the trade body the country is committed to contribute to the second wave of the fisheries negotiations.
“I would like to emphasize that one of the top priorities of the Philippines is to advance agriculture negotiations,” said Alfredo Pascual, secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry in one of the meetings of the WTO on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum last week.
The Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies is a major step forward for ocean sustainability by prohibiting harmful fisheries subsidies, which are a key factor in the widespread depletion of the world’s fish stocks. The Agreement represents a historic achievement for the membership as the first Sustainable Development Goal target to be fully met. Switzerland became the first WTO member to submit its instrument of acceptance in Davos, Switzerland.
Pascual alongside 22 ministers and senior officials representing a broad spectrum of the WTO membership joined the Informal WTO Ministerial Gathering hosted by the Swiss government. In his concluding remarks, Switzerland’s Federal Councilor Guy Parmelin summarized the main points from the discussions, which include the implementation of the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, possible extension of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Decision adopted at the Ministerial Conference 12 last June to cover the production and supply of COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics, effective negotiations on agricultural trade policy reform, and current efforts to reform the WTO. He also noted that several ministers welcomed the progress in the plurilateral negotiations such as on Electronic Commerce and Investment Facilitation. Pascual also joined the breakfast meeting organized by Singapore, Japan, and Australia as co-convenors of the Joint Statement Initiative (JSI) on Electronic Commerce. At present, the initiative on the trade-related aspects of ecommerce has 88 participating Member-countries which accounts for over 90 percent of global trade.
Pascual also conveyed the Philippines’ support for the continued open, transparent, and inclusive nature of the initiative that considers the unique opportunities and challenges faced by all WTO Members. He also pledged support for the substantial conclusion of the Joint Statement Initiative (JSI) at the end of 2023 and continued to welcome its current negotiating process.
