Nigeria Accepts WTO’s Fisheries Subsidies Agreement

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who serves as the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), praised the Nigerian government for accepting the fisheries subsidies agreement, which will help the country to end illegal and unreported fishing activities.

"I am profoundly grateful to Nigeria for formally accepting the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies," Okonjo-Iweala said on Monday, as per WTO's official website. "I am proud to see the country's continued commitment to sustainable development and its vote of confidence in the work of the WTO."

Okonjo-Iweala explained that Nigeria's agreement has added to the "growing tally of members that have accepted the Agreement — we have received about one-third of the total that we need for the Agreement to enter into force."

She further said that Nigeria will be an inspiration to other governments in Africa alongside the rest of the world to sign this agreement and implement it swiftly.

Ambassador Adamu Mohammed Abdulhamid, who presented the agreement to Okonjo-Iweala in Switzerland, said that this agreement provides a unique opportunity for Nigeria to promote the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth.

Moreover, it will help to improve the livelihoods and preserve the health of the ocean's ecosystem as this agreement shall "put a stop to all harmful fisheries subsidies such as illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing activities by all WTO members."

By accepting this agreement, Nigeria "reassures its commitment to a rule-based multilateral trading system by guaranteeing its compliance with the Agreement as well as refraining from introducing any new subsidies," which can harm the marine environment.

Moreover, this instrument of acceptance will help to recognize the "need for appropriate and effective special and differential treatment for developing and least developed countries which can be achieved through adequate policy space to develop its fisheries sector and technical assistance and capacity building in order to implement the discipline."

Ambassador Abdulhamid urged other WTO members to enter this agreement as soon as possible in order to contribute to the global effort to preserve global fish stocks.

The agreement expects the countries to stop overfishing and reduce the number of fish stocks. The fisheries subsidies agreement is signed by several countries in order to perform sustainable fishing practices and conserve marine resources.

This agreement was first introduced in 2001 under the Doha Development Agenda. Whereas, WTO is an international organization, which was formed in 1995.