As text-based negotiations on fisheries subsidies are now beginning in earnest in the WTO Negotiating Group on Rules, many questions and issues remain on the table. At the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference, ministers placed particular emphasis on the need for appropriate and effective special and differential treatment (S&DT) as an integral part of the negotiations to contribute to poverty reduction and address livelihood and food security concerns. Countries, however, are still struggling with how to integrate development priorities into the fisheries subsidies disciplines. In addition to broader questions on the architecture and scope of the S&DT provisions, particular concerns have also been raised on how to tackle subsidies to artisanal fisheries and access fees in the disciplines. While a number of proposals have been put forward, there is an urgent need for more in-depth discussions on the merits of and gaps in the proposals in an effort to identify options for moving the negotiations forward and putting development aspirations into practice.

As part of this effort, UNEP, ICTSD and WWF provided an open forum to discuss and better understand the strategic interests and technical challenges facing especially developing countries in the negotiations. The dialogue engaged a broad range of trade negotiators from Geneva, complemented by selected capital-based officials actively engaged in formulating fisheries subsidies policies at the domestic level and other key experts involved in fisheries and trade issues.