In preparation for its next Ministerial Conference (MC-13) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in February next year, the World Trade Organisation this week hosted Senior Officials from all over the world in Geneva. His Excellency Lansana Gberie, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sierra Leone to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva led Sierra Leone’s delegation to the meeting.
The Ministerial Conference is the highest decision-making body of the WTO. The preparatory meetings in Geneva, from 23-24 October, focused on agriculture and food security. These fisheries subsidies lead to over-exploitation of African waters by richer countries, LDC graduation and trade and development, among other important issues that, WTO Director General Dr Ngozi Iweala said, “can positively impact lives and livelihoods and contribute to solutions to current (global) challenges.” Senior officials from 164 countries were requested to provide “the political guidance, input, and involvement of Senior Officials before MC13, will help in solving certain problems, bridging gaps, and laying a stronger foundation for a successful Ministerial Conference.”
In his statement on Agriculture and Food Security, Ambassador Gberie informed the meeting of the government’s focus on Human Capital Development to drive sustainable development in prioritising investments in agriculture, through the FEED SALONE Programme, which will receive up to 10% of the national budgetary allocation over the next five years.
‘’Feed Salone aims to ignite agricultural productivity, safeguard food security, and foster inclusive economic growth, laying the foundation for sustained prosperity. It is against this background that Sierra Leone urges for a meaningful food security and livelihoods package at MC 13 that evens the playing field in global agricultural trade,” Ambassador Gberie noted.
Ambassador Gberie maintained that the worsening state of food security, with a particularly devastating and disproportionate impact on the African Continent, demands a redoubling of their efforts towards agricultural trade reform that will level the playing field and address the systemic causes of food insecurity, which stem from historical and current imbalances in the Agreement on Agriculture. Additionally, the significant global insecurity and financial uncertainty have revealed deep discrepancies in the policy tools available to developing countries and least-developed countries (LDCs), in comparison to those at the disposal of developed countries to maintain resilience to withstand such a global crisis. He said that safeguarding the multilateral trading system and strengthening its capacity to make it fit for purpose should be their collective objective.
On Fisheries Subsidies, Ambassador Gberie said Sierra Leone is actively pursuing the ratification of the agreement reached at MC12. It is expected that the Minister of Fisheries will take the agreement to Parliament for approval to curb harmful fisheries subsidies. Ambassador Gberie informed the gathering that Sierra Leone, as a coastal country, is vulnerable to overfishing, due to the subsidies afforded to foreign vessels, and therefore there is a need for the ratification of the agreement for Sierra Leone to join WTO Member States who have ratified the agreement. ‘’The global marine capture and subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing are largely concentrated among a limited number of large fishing nations. These practices threaten the sustainably of the resources, livelihoods, and food security of less-resourced countries. Countries like Sierra Leone should be accorded the policy space to utilize their fishery resources for the benefit of their people, as well as to meet the sustainability objectives, as set in SDG 14.6’’, H.E noted.
Ambassador Gberie reaffirmed Sierra Leone’s commitment to engaging constructively, in the discussions of the sovereignty of States over their waters, the exclusion of artisanal or subsistence fishing from its scope, the strict and unambiguous protection of overfished stocks, the effective prohibition of subsidies granted to industrial and large-scale vessels in the Exclusive Economic Zones of third countries, and according to most recent data, 40% of all catch in LDCs EEZs are by foreign and highly subsidised fleets that directly compete with our artisanal fishers and target the same stock, aiming to establish common ground and craft a well-balanced outcome.
WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) was adopted by consensus in Geneva on 12-17 June 2022, the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies set new, binding, multilateral rules to curb harmful subsidies, which are a key factor in the widespread depletion of the world’s fish stocks. In addition, the Agreement recognizes the needs of developing and least-developed country members and establishes a fund to provide technical assistance and capacity building to help them implement the obligations. The Agreement prohibits support for illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, bans support for fishing overfished stocks, and ends subsidies for fishing on the unregulated high seas. Members also agreed at MC12 to continue negotiations on outstanding issues, to make recommendations by MC13, to be held in February 2024 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, for additional provisions that would further enhance the disciplines of the Agreement.
