Agriculture, fisheries subsidies on agenda at WTO meet in Paris next week

India is gearing up for a meeting with some of the trade ministers of World Trade Organization (WTO) member nations next week in Paris, where there could be discussions on crucial issues such as the public stockholding matter in agriculture, fisheries subsidies as well as WTO reforms.

Government officials said the meeting will be held on the sidelines of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) meeting in Paris. The 13th ministerial conference (MC 13) will take place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in February 2024. But next week’s meeting, though informal in nature, will be the right platform for countries to discuss some priorities for the next ministerial, they said.

“Agriculture will be one of the top issues for India, along with the fisheries subsidies,” an official cited above told Business Standard.

In the previous ministerial (MC12), India was hoping to get a permanent solution to the public stockholding issue for food security.

However, there was no decision on the matter. It was decided that the issue will be taken up in the next ministerial conference.

As far as agreement on fisheries subsidies is concerned, in the last ministerial, WTO was also able to build a consensus on a 21-year old issue. It aims to eliminate subsidies for illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and promote sustainable fishing.

According to the deal, there will be checks on illegal, unreported, or unregulated fishing in India’s waters and elsewhere. Besides, no subsidies will be provided for fishing in areas outside exclusive economic zones.

It is learnt that seven countries — Switzerland, Singapore, Seychelles, Canada, United States, Iceland and UAE — have ratified the fisheries deal.

India is yet to ratify the agreement. The Centre is in consultation with state governments regarding the matter.