Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 7 • Number 8 • 5th March 2003
Fisheries Meeting Focuses On Mammal Competition And Illegal Fishing
ACP - EU HOLD JOINT MINISTERIAL TRADE COMMITTEE
On 27 and 28 February, the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and the European Union (EU) held a joint Ministerial Trade Committee meeting in St. Lucia. This was the first ministerial meeting since the negotiations on their Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), which began on 27 September 2002. Owing to the slow pace of the negotiations on the EPAs and persistent differences in the points of view of both parties on the objectives and contents of the EPAs, some ACP countries are now, according to a statement issued by the ACP Secretariat, "questioning the advisability of launching the second phase of the negotiations at the level of ACP regions, scheduled for September 2003". Among the issues that have sparked the ACP countries’ concern is a challenge to the Sugar Protocol of the Cotonou Agreement by Brazil and Australia through the WTO dispute settlement process, as well as repeated calls for review of the EU-ACP system of trade preferences. According Bouba Maigari, Cameroon’s representative, "the ACP states are deeply concerned by the frequent calling into question of the preferences already granted them by the European Union. Such attacks constitute a real threat to the credibility and integrity of the Cotonou Agreement as a whole".
Meanwhile, the Cotonou Agreement, which provides the structure for trade and cooperation between the ACP countries and the EU, is set to enter into force on 1 April 2003, having attained the requisite number of ratifications (52 on the ACP side and 15 on the EU side). In a brief ceremony at the ACP Secretariat on 27 February, the EC deposited instruments of ratification kicking into effect the countdown to entry into force in 1 April.
ICTSD Reporting; "Press Release," ACP SECRETARIAT, 1 March 2003.
On 24-28 February, government officials and experts met in Rome to discuss a report on the implementation of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and Related International Plans of Action. The meeting, organised by the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) under the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), focused in particular on strategies for increasing the role and sustainability of small-scale fisheries with regard to food security and poverty alleviation. It also considered the implementation of an ecosystems approach to fisheries management to restore fisheries resources in marine environments. In this context, the Japanese delegation presented its preliminary findings from a whale research programme, arguing that whales consume large volumes of fish and undermine fisheries conservation efforts — and ultimately world food security. In light of the research findings, the Japanese delegation urged the committee to continue its work on implementing an ecosystem model to manage fisheries and take into account the competition between marine mammals and fisheries. A number of other delegations requested the committee to increase its work to address illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing as well as to strengthen regional fisheries management organisations. Japan furthermore announced its financial support for the next meeting of the committee to be held in early 2004.
"Fish consumption by marine mammals concerns Japan" SCOOP Media, 28 February, 2003. "Strong support for firmer action against IUU fishing" FAO, 3 March, 2003.
WATER WORKSHOP HIGHLIGHTS UNCERTAINTY
On 3 March, the University of Geneva and Georgetown University Law Center co-hosted a workshop on fresh water and international trade law. Held in Geneva, the workshop attracted various experts and discussion ranged from the geopolitical, trade and legal issues associated with trans-boundary exports of fresh water, to GATS and agriculture. Participants agreed that water is a unique good, possibly even "sacred," due to the impossibility of finding substitutes, and commented that this feature heightens the sensitivity of action and calls into question the role of bodies such as the WTO in the area. Professor Edith Brown Weiss highlighted the lack of legal certainty surrounding bulk water exports involving the public and/or the private sector, stressing that markets for this resource are already beginning to grow in countries around the world. Participants also referred to findings of Professor Franklin Fischer questioning the necessity of conflict over water. Fischer claims that through desalinisation, water can be produced for 65 cents per cubic meter — thus, "a price can be put on potential peace". For more in depth coverage of the event, see the forthcoming issue of BRIDGES Trade BioRes.
ICTSD Reporting.