The World Trade Organization’s164 members approved a series of trade agreements. That included commitments on fish and pledges on health and food security after more than five gruelling days of negotiations.
The deals on ground out over five days of bargaining at a conference of more than 100 trade ministers. The ability of nations to strike multilateral trade deals amid geopolitical tensions by the Ukraine war. Delegates cheered after they passed the package of six agreements just before dawn on Friday.
“The package of agreements will make a difference to the lives of people around the world- DG Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. The outcomes demonstrate that the WTO is in fact capable of responding to emergencies of our time.”
The WTO’s rules dictate that all decisions are from consensus, with any single member able to exercise a veto. Curbing fishing subsidies is only the second multilateral agreement setting new global trading rules struck in the WTO’s 27-year history. And is far more ambitious than the first, which was designed to cut red tape. The fishing subsidies deal has the potential to reverse collapsing fish stocks. Though pared back significantly, it still drew approval.
Overall, many observers were broadly supportive and said the deals should boost the WTO, which was weakened by former U.S. President Donald Trump’s crippling of its ability to intervene in trade disputes, and set it on a course for reform.
-Reuters.
