Okonjo-Iweala Calls for Increased Funding for Sustainable Fisheries

Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports.

According to Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), financial assistance must be expanded to assist developing and least-developed country (LDC) members in establishing sustainable fisheries in light of the historic World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement to reduce harmful fishing subsidies.
According to a statement, the former Nigeria Finance Minister said this at a recent Aid for Trade Global Review event, where the Secretariat launched a new report.

High-level officials from coastal economies and donor partners have also advocated for more resources to be allocated to sustainable fisheries.

“WTO members adopted a new Fisheries Subsidies Agreement at our 12th Ministerial Conference.” The Agreement is the first multilateral, binding agreement on ocean sustainability. “It is also the first World Trade Organization agreement with environmental sustainability at its core,” said DG Okonjo-Iweala at the event, where she also urged members to formally accept the Agreement so that it could enter into force.

“Implementation will require time, effort, and money for developing country and LDC members,” the DG added, citing upcoming tasks such as incorporating fisheries-related elements into subsidy policies and meeting new notification requirements, particularly for fisheries-related information.

“The WTO’s new report, ‘Implementing the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies: Challenges and Opportunities for Developing and Least-Developed Country Members,’ helps set the context for this important conversation,” DG Okonjo-Iweala said, noting that 65 percent of $5 billion in assistance earmarked for fisheries and the ocean economy between 2010 and 2020 targeted sustainable fisheries, according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

“However, one telling statistic from the report is that over ten years, support for sustainable marine fisheries is dwarfed by the annual $22 billion in harmful fisheries subsidies.”

“In theory,” she explained, “removing these subsidies would liberate a vast amount of resources that could be redirected to promote and support sustainable fisheries management and practices by all members, including developing and LDC members.”

The Director-General drew attention to the voluntary WTO Fisheries Funding Mechanism, which the Agreement envisions as a means of filling gaps in existing assistance and ensuring that beneficiaries have everything they need to fully implement the new WTO rules.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) will manage the Fund in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Bank, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
“Donors to the Fund have already pledged roughly half of our initial $10 million target, and we are working hard to get it up and running as soon as possible,” she said.