 Welcome to Glove Fish Meet the Expert where we explore international trade and market issues with a leading expert. I'm your host, Mariana Tuzon. Today we're joined by Tahinia Ivanovic, a fishery expert in the rules division at the World Trade Organization, WTO. So just to give you a short explanation about WTO, this organization is the main global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. So turning to our main objective today to explore some aspects of international trade and access to market of fisheries and aquaculture products, I would like to thank you, Tahinia, for participating in this Meet the Expert interview. It's great to have you with us. The WTO has many roles, but the main one is to act as a forum for negotiating trade agreements among members. So in this regard, could you explain a bit more what does WTO do in terms of trade of fisheries and aquaculture products? And in addition, what is the type of assistance that WTO provides to its members when it comes to the fisheries and aquaculture sector? Good afternoon, Mariana. Thanks for your question and thanks to the FEO for inviting me to this interview. As you have rightly noted, the WTO is the only international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations at its heart by the WTO agreements, the agreements negotiating and signed by the bulk of the world's trading nations. These agreements cover goods, services, and intellectual property, as well as include individual countries' commitments to lower custom tariffs and other trade barriers. Fisheries and aquaculture products are classified as goods at the WTO and therefore, they're subject to the WTO trades and goods under GATT, general agreement on tariffs and trade, and other goods agreements and annexes. For example, WTO membership includes a long list of around 22,000 pages of individual countries' commitments to cut and bind the tariffs of imports of goods, and this list includes a variety of fisheries and aquaculture products. Looking through the list, we can note that applied tariffs for fishery products range between zero and 30% with an average of 40% binding tariffs and also developed countries, they have much lower average tariffs at around 5%. Other than tariffs, non-tariff measures also affect fish trade through product standards, through sanitary and phytosanitary measures, procedures for input licensing and rules of origin among others. Also, due to their perishable nature, fishery and aquaculture products are particularly affected by customs and clearance procedure. Subsidies, they can also affect fisheries. First, subsidies to fishing that have trade distorting effects are covered by the agreement on subsidies and countervailing measures of the WTO. However, these rules do not address the potential impact of subsidies on the health of the fisheries resource. And this is why in 2001, at a ministerial meeting in Doha, WTO members agreed to clarify and improve those rules and eventually have adopted the agreement that contains a mechanism, disciplining fishery subsidies based on their impact on the health of fish stocks. Concerning the second part of your question, Mariana, and the assistance that a WTO provides, technical assistance is surely a key component of the development dimension of the multilateral trading system. For that reason, the WTO secretariat uses several means to deliver technical assistance to developing and least-developed country members, such as routine advisory services to the representatives here in Geneva, but also different seminars, workshops, and training courses. Thank you. I hope that replies to your question. Yes, indeed. Thank you. Thank you a lot. During this first question, you were mentioning fisheries subsidies. So after more than 20 years of ongoing negotiations on fisheries subsidies at the WTO, last June at the 12th ministerial conference was a turning point for the fisheries and aquaculture sector. Members adopted the WTO agreement on fisheries subsidies, which prohibits harmful fisheries subsidies. Could you explain what are the type of fisheries subsidies the WTO agreement covers, what will happen with the other harmful subsidies not covering the agreement, and how will members implement this agreement? Again, Mariana, thanks for your excellent question. And yes, indeed, this agreement was definitely a turning point for the WTO members, and was a turning point in my life also, as I have spent four and a half years in the negotiating room helping members and assisting in reaching this agreement. The agreement is very important for ocean sustainability, because it prohibits harmful fisheries subsidies that are one of the key factors in widespread depletion of the world fish stocks. But I don't think I have to develop too much about that to my colleagues in the FAO. They're very well familiar with this decision. The agreement is historic for the WTO for different reasons. First, this is the first sustainable development goal target to be fully met. This is the first SDG or sustainable development goal target that has been met through a multilateral binding agreement. And also for the WTO, this is the first agreement that focuses on the environment, not only on the train distorting effect and the trade distortions. Sending your specific question and the type of fisheries subsidies that are covered by this agreement, in a nutshell, the agreement prohibits three types of fisheries subsidies. First, any subsidy that contributes to illegal, underregulated and unreported fishing, a term well defined by the FAO. Then subsidies regarding stocks that are overfished. And third, subsidies to any fishing taking place in unregulated high seas. Those are the seas that are beyond the jurisdiction of any coastal member and also outside of jurisdiction or area of competence of any regional fisheries management organization or the agreement. In addition to these three main prohibitions I've just explained, the agreement also obliges members to commit to exercise caution when providing two types of subsidies. These are subsidies for vessels not flying the flag of the subsidizing member, as well as subsidizing fishing regarding stocks of whom status is unknown, so-called unassessed stocks. Beyond the disciplines themselves, the agreement also contains curbsome notification and transparency requirement that relate both two fisheries subsidies as well as fisheries management measures that members are implementing. I should also highlight that the WTO fisheries subsidies work has not stopped with the adoption of the agreement. In fact, the WTO now has two fisheries subsidies work streams, both of which are crucial for the agreement to operate effectively in disciplining fisheries subsidies. The first of these two work streams relate to entry into force and implementation of the new agreement. And for the agreement to enter into force, two-thirds of WTO members must deposit their instruments of acceptance or ratify the agreement. Then, for the new disciplines to have a real world impact on subsidization taking place currently, members must fully implement those new rules. The second work stream relates to the final part of your question, Mariana, is continuation of the negotiations to address the remaining issues and make recommendation concerning those issues by the 13 ministerial conference. These negotiations were aimed to develop further disciplines on certain fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing along with providing appropriate special and differential treatment for developing and least developed country members of the WTO. To conclude, Mariana, the WTO has adopted a multilateral agreement that prohibits subsidies to IOU fishing, subsidies for overfishing stocks, and certain forms of subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing. It is now up to WTO members to complete their domestic acceptance processes so that the agreement can begin delivering its benefits for the ocean sustainability. Thank you. Yes indeed, you have made a really good key point. Fortunately, we have come to the end of this interview and I would like to thank you, Strahinja, and to all our listeners. Remember to stay tuned for the next Lovefish Meet the Expert interview and see you next time. Goodbye.