Ukraine endorses WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies
MOSCOW. Aug 18 (Interfax) - Ukrainian Premier Minister Denish Shmygal has handed over to World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala a document on Ukraine's acceptance of the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, Ukrainian media outlets said, citing the press service of the Ministry of Economy.
"Therefore, Ukraine has joined the WTO members which accepted this agreement aimed at the development of sustainable fishing," the ministry said.
According to the ministry, the agreement established the new mandatory multilateral regulations to limit harmful fisheries subsidies.
According to provisions of the document, WTO members are banned from granting subsidies for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, for fishing overfished stocks and supporting fishing outside the jurisdiction of a coastal state and outside the competencies of regional organizations managing fishing.
Additionally, every WTO member must exercise due restraint while granting subsidies to vessels which do not sail under their flags and subsidies for fishing stocks the status of which is unknown.
Ukraine's instrument of acceptance of the agreement was the 15th received by WTO. The agreement will enter into effect after two thirds of WTO members accept it.
At present, Belize, Canada, China, the European Union, including its 27 member states, Gabon, Iceland, Japan, Nigeria, Peru, the Seychelles, Singapore, Switzerland, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates have already presented their instruments of acceptance.
The Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies was adopted at the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference in Geneva on July 12-17, 2022. The document established the new mandatory multilateral regulations to limit harmful fisheries subsidies, which are a key factor of the considerable depletion of the world's fish stocks.
The agreement recognizes the special needs of the developing countries and the least developed countries and, therefore, established a fund for technical assistance and development of potential in order to help them with the obligations they assumed.