Ambassador Le Thi Tuyet Mai (Photo: VNA)

The Vietnamese delegation actively participated in the discussions with the aim of reaching consensus and promoting negotiations in order to early achieve satisfactory solutions for all parties, towards realising the sustainable development goal (SDG) 14.6 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the UN.

At a meeting of heads of delegation to the WTO, Chair of the WTO negotiating group, Ambassador Santiago Wills of Colombia, briefed the participants on the work that has been done since January 2021.

Wills reiterated that the WTO members should begin to express their views on an acceptable outcome that can lead the successful conclusion of negotiations, aiming to protect aquatic resources worldwide.

Many statements delivered at the meeting noted the differences of views on the three issues discussed in the latest negotiation round, while proposing to use many different forms of negotiation to find solutions to narrowing the differences.

A number of members welcomed the call of new WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on February 15 to introduce the WTO’s new rules on fisheries subsidies as soon as possible in 2021.

The next round of negotiations on fisheries subsidies will start on March 15. WTO members can also conduct consultations before the next round of negotiations.

The WTO’s 11th Ministerial Conference (MC11) and SDG 14.6 give negotiators the task of securing an agreement on eliminating subsidies for illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and to prohibit certain forms of fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing by the end of 2020. WTO members committed to build on their 2020 progress and reach a resolution in 2021.

SDG 14.6, part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by all United Nations member states, including Vietnam, in 2015, affirms the WTO's role in the global fisheries subsidies agenda.

It targets to “by 2020, prohibit certain forms of fisheries subsidies which contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, and eliminate subsidies that contribute to IUU fishing, and refrain from introducing new such subsidies, recognising that appropriate and effective special and differential treatment for developing and least developed countries should be an integral part of the WTO fisheries subsidies negotiation.”/.

BTA