By Emma Farge
GENEVA (Reuters) -The head of the World Trade Organization told trade ministers on Thursday she was optimistic about concluding multilateral talks on the fishing industry soon but called for a “shift of mindset” to bridge final gaps.
The virtual conference in Geneva, the first meeting of WTO trade ministers since 2017, aims – after 20 years of talks – to fix rules to curb harmful subsidies that lead to overfishing. [L8N2OP4MN]
“I believe that we are all genuinely committed, but a shift of mindset is necessary for us to bridge the final gaps that continue to separate members,” director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told ministers in her opening address at the closed-door meeting, according to a copy of her speech seen by Reuters.
The global trade body has not reached a multilateral deal in years and Okonjo-Iweala, who took office in March, said the talks would be a “litmus test” of the body’s ability to do so.
“You can send a powerful signal – one way or the other – about the WTO’s credibility as a multilateral negotiating forum,” she told ministers.
In a promising sign, a major fisheries subsidiser, the European Union, said the draft deal formed the basis for clinching a global agreement as it “contains many elements for landing zones”.
Negotiators at the WTO have struggled to agree how to cap subsidies that contribute to the overfishing of the world’s seas and oceans.
(Reporting by Emma Farge; editing by John Stonestreet and Mark Heinrich)
