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HE Dr. Hind bint Abdul Rahman Al-Mufta, Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva, presented the State of Qatar’s ratification document for the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Fisheries Support to HE Ms. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization, during a bilateral meeting held last Wednesday in Geneva attended by Mr. Ahmed Issa Al-Sulaiti, Director of the Office of the State of Qatar to the World Trade Organization and other economic organizations. The negotiations on the Agreement began in the 2001 Doha Round and concluded the first round of negotiations with the Agreement on Fisheries Support during the 12th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization in June 2022, in order to achieve UN Target 14.6 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal, which is to support the WTO in concluding negotiations on disciplines on the elimination of government subsidies that contribute to overfishing, unreported and unregulated fishing, taking into account the needs of developing country members.
The agreement is considered a historic achievement for the World Trade Organization, as it is the first to prioritize environmental objectives in addition to commercial and development benefits. Once implemented, it will reduce subsidies that contribute to the depletion of global marine resources by $22 billion per year. The agreement also helps sustain the livelihoods of an estimated 260 million people who depend directly or indirectly on marine fisheries. The agreement stipulates that technical assistance must be provided to developing and least developed member countries. Qatar’s ratification of the agreement reflects the importance the country attaches to the implementation of the 2030 global Sustainable Development Goals. Qatar also supports international efforts to develop the sustainability of fisheries resources and reaffirms the country’s commitment to its international commitments, especially with regard to the United Nations. United Nations General Assembly Resolution 70 of 25 September 2015 on Sustainable Development Goals Specifically, Goal 14 refers to “Conserve the oceans, seas and marine resources and use them sustainably for sustainable development.”
As part of its commitment to supporting global efforts to achieve these goals, the State of Qatar has supported the Agreement at the drafting stage of each round of negotiations since its launch in 2001 at the Doha Round, and today it ratified the Agreement to accelerate the achievement of this goal. Its entry into force confirms the outstanding role it continues to play as a pioneer country on the path to sustainable development.
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