Indonesia has officially proposed to get WTO removed from the text of IGSSF."Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia has proposed that the term World Trade Organization (WTO) be removed from the International Guidelines for Small-scale Fisheries (IGSSF) text, an official has said.
"Indonesia has officially proposed to get WTO removed from the text of IGSSF," Riza Damanik, a member of Indonesian delegation for talks on the IGSSF said in Rome, Italy on Friday.
He said during the talks in Rome since Monday, Indonesia`s proposal gained support from the Philippines, South Africa, Norway, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Turkey, India, Brazil, and Angola.
But Argentina and Uruguay remained supporting the existence of WTO instrument in draft of IGSSF text.
"Until after the third day of IGSSF talks, the article related to WTO in the text of IGSSF has yet to be agreed," Damanik said.
He explained that for Indonesia`s traditional fishermen, the deletion of WTO in the IGSSF text was important for the government to stop fish import into the domestic markets and destroy the prices of fish caught by the local fishermen.
Damanik also urged the government to enlarge its capacity to give subsidy and incentive to the traditional fishermen.
"Industrial countries have repeatedly used WTO instrument to urge Indonesia stop its subsidy to the traditional fishermen," he said.
(Uu.O001/F001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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