The gridlocks at the WTO

Fisheries, agriculture and World Trade Organisation (WTO) reforms were at the heart of intense negotiations among trade ministers from around the world who gathered in Abu Dhabi last week. Here are the main issues that were on the table during the ministerial conference known as MC13, which saw an extension of an e-commerce moratorium but no deals on agriculture and fisheries. Fisheries — the next step During the WTO’s last ministerial meeting, held at its Geneva headquarters in June 2022, trade chiefs managed to nail down a historic agreement banning harmful fisheries subsidies after more than two decades of negotiations. Debate surrounds a rule allowing countries, such as China, to self-declare as developing and access trade benefits The agreement banned subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing, as well as for fishing of overstretched stocks and in unregulated high seas, with additional flexibility baked in for developing nations.