In no hurry to ratify pact on fisheries: India at WTO

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 28

The Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, an RSS affiliate, on Wednesday welcomed the statement of the official delegation of the Government of India at the WTO’s 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) in Abu Dhabi that India was in no hurry to ratify the first agreement on fisheries.

SJM national co-convener Ashwani Mahajan said any agreement that was silent on real culprits of depleting ocean resources was not acceptable. “We welcome the stand of the Indian delegation that the country doesn’t support bringing in gender and micro, small and medium enterprises in the WTO discussion and as the same may further complicate the WTO functioning. We also support the statement that these issues are better addressed at other international forums,” Mahajan said.

The agreement regulates the provision of fisheries subsidies and recognises that certain types of subsidies can have a negative impact on the sustainability of marine natural resources.

As per official briefing by the WTO Secretariat, the issue of support for public stockholding (PSH) for food security continued to remain the bone of contention. The Cairns Group of countries (net exporters of foodgrains) were seen as blocking the permanent solution agreed upon in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

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