Representatives from the Samoa Government recently attended a high level World Trade Organisation (WTO) regional conference on fisheries subsidies.

The Samoa Government delegation was led by the C.E.O. of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Tilafono David Hunter who was also joined by the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Samoa to the U.N.O.G based in Geneva, Toleafoa Nella Tavita-Levy and senior officials from the Office of the Attorney General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the MAF.

The Forum Island countries, W.T.O. members met for the first time since the Ministerial Conference (MC12) of the World Trade Organization was held in June this year in Geneva. Fisheries, legal and trade senior officials met on the first two days of the event for a capacity-building workshop to sensitise them with detailed understanding of the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies (FSA), one of the few agreements reached at MC12. 

The Ministerial Session last Friday allowed Forum Island countries, W.T.O. Ministers and heads of delegations, as well as Australia and New Zealand to deliberate on the ratification processes at the national level, implementation plans as well as the second wave of negotiations. 

The W.T.O. Director General, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who was on her first visit to the region since becoming the head of the organisation, joined the ministerial roundtable attended by Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu. 

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala said in her remarks that she wanted to hear from the Pacific the challenges they faced in the ratification process, but more importantly the aspirations of the Pacific going into MC13, given the work that remains for a substantial (comprehensive) fisheries subsidies agreement. 

Her visit to the Pacific also provided an opportunity for the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat and the W.T.O. which is being renewed for the fourth time. The MOU provides for continued partnership between the two organisations on the WTO technical assistance programmes for the region delivered through PIFS.