Negotiations towards banning subsidies that encourage overfishing and threaten the sustainability of the planet's fish stocks have been going on at the World Trade Organization for more than two decades; India refused to sign up without a 25-year transition exemption
Official delegations listen to the speech of Nigerian Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at their headquarters in Geneva, on June 12, 2022. Fishing subsidies is the flagship deal that the WTO's leader Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was hoping to get passed at the global trade body's first ministerial conference in nearly five years (Image: Martial Trezzini / Pool / AFP)
Geneva, Switzerland: India all but sank the WTO's bid to net a long-sought deal on curbing harmful fishing subsidies, insisting Tuesday it would not sign up without a 25-year exemption.
Negotiations towards banning subsidies that encourage overfishing and threaten the sustainability of the planet's fish stocks have been going on at the World Trade Organization for more than two decades.
The global trade body only takes decisions by consensus and its 164 members were seemingly closer than ever to sealing a deal at their four-day conference of trade ministers, which is scheduled to wind up on Wednesday.
But India stuck to its demand for a quarter of a century in which to adapt to the proposals on subsidies—a position many others are at odds with.