The E15 engages key stakeholders – trade and investment policy makers, business and thought leaders – in policy dialogues in Geneva and around the world to explore and help validate ideas, align interests and strengthen the impetus for change.
Dialogues with WTO Delegates
Advancing SDG 14.6 through Fisheries Subsidies Disciplines
On 12 April, ICTSD organised an informal roundtable aimed at examining means to advance Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14.6 through fisheries subsidies disciplines in the WTO ahead of the 11th Ministerial Conference in Buenos Aires and beyond.
Negotiations towards a possible agreement on fisheries are gaining momentum; several WTO Members have repeatedly highlighted this issue as a possible deliverable for the next ministerial conference. A number of specific negotiating proposals from a wide variety of Members pointing towards such an outcome have already been tabled. Meanwhile, in September 2016 a group of 13 WTO members announced plans to begin negotiations for a plurilateral agreement to ban harmful fisheries subsidies.
This roundtable helped to build convergence by providing a neutral space for informal dialogue among leading WTO negotiators and selected fisheries experts on the specific challenges under discussion. Issues covered ranged from defining subsidies that contribute to overfishing and overcapacity, to addressing concerns around fisheries management regimes or the need for special and differential treatment.
The meeting followed on from the E15 Engagement Day on the WTO and MC11, held on 26 September 2016, as part of a series of dialogues to be organised over the course of the year to delve further into selected topics as they evolve.
