Download Mr Chairman

Statement by Mr Guðni Bragason, Permanent Representative of Iceland to FAO,
at the 27th Session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries, 5 – 9 March 2007
COFI agenda item no. 6: Decisions and Recommendations of the Tenth Session
of the COFI Sub-Committee on Fish Trade.
Mr Chairman.
Allow me to express Iceland´s satisfaction with the Tenth Session of the SubCommittee on Fish Trade, and its decisions and recommendations. The issues
discussed at the meeting are of vital importance to fisheries world-wide and to the
global fish trade. In the last decades the FAO has asserted itself as the most important
knowledge organization in the field of fisheries and fish trade. The work of the
Organization is of enormous importance to Member States and all fisheries related
issues of global dimension.
These complicated issues need to be discussed thoroughly, especially with
regard to the interests of all players, be they fishermen, health inspection authorities,
fishing companies, merchants or the consumers. In order to further this dialogue, the
Icelandic Government, in cooperation with the FAO, supported a Symposium on
International Seafood Trade, its challenges and opportunities, held by the University
of Akureyri in Northern Iceland last month. The Symposium also provided a venue
for the exchange of views with representatives from the private sector, banks
financing fisheries activities and fisheries companies.
Mr Chairman, allow me to recall that the at the Symposium the Icelandic
Minister for Fisheries, Einar K. Guðfinnsson, emphasized that more free trade would
benefit all, and that fish trade was of great importance for economic growth.
Free trade agreements, bilateral and multilateral, which take into account
Parties’ diverse level of development, are of great importance to fish trade. Those
considerations were an integral part of the Free Trade Agreement signed last year
between the member countries of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA),
Iceland among them, and the member countries of the Southern African Customs
Union (SACU) (Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland), covering
fish and other marine products. EFTA, and Iceland bilaterally, is in the process of
facilitating new free trade agreements.
Recalling the discussion here earlier today, we would also welcome more
input of the FAO into the Doha round. At the WTO talks Iceland has emphasized that
market access for non-agricultural goods is crucial for developing and developed
countries alike.
The documentation at the meeting of the Sub-Committee demonstrated clearly
the importance of fish trade for the developing countries. Fish is one of the most
valuable source of nutrition and income for these countries. Ninety-five per cent of
those who live from fisheries are in the developing world and a billion people depend
on fisheries for their main intake of protein. The share of the developing countries in
the export of fish and fishery products is over 50%, with the net income of more than
20 billion USD. This trade is a significant source of foreign currency earnings for the
countries in question. It shows the high value of fishery products that the earnings
from these products for the developing countries exceed the foreign exchange
revenues earned from any other major traded food commodity.
At the Symposium in Iceland last month the Icelandic Minister for Foreign
Affairs, Mrs Valgerður Sverrisdóttir, emphasized the fact that the developing
countries are, and will be, important players in this trade. Their needs will have to be
considered, also in terms of food security and hunger reduction.
The fish trade sector is vulnerable and needs financing and investment in
infrastructure, not least in the developing world. The business aspect has changed
considerably, with very few companies controlling the buying and selling of seafood
world-wide, thus being in the position of setting standards and labeling the product.
On the consumer end of the chain there is health and food safety to consider, as well
as trends in taste and demand.
Food safety and health aspects are of vital importance to fish trade and to the
consumers. In discussions at the Seminar participants from the developing countries
emphasized the difficulties several countries have in meeting the standards and
changing requirements set by the developed countries. These problems demonstrate
the need for continued technical assistance and capacity building in fields such as
food quality and safety and traceability. Through the Icelandic International
Development Agency (ICEIDA) we have facilitated such cooperation in several
countries.
We also laud the constructive work of the sub-committee on cooperation with
the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and
Flora (CITES), which was an important step toward finalizing the Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU), signed by the FAO and CITES, on reviewing and consulting
together on the scientific, legal and technical evaluation of commercially exploited
aquatic species, listed or proposed for listing in the CITES Appendices. This
cooperation is especially important in view of attempts to use trade restrictions to
hinder sustainable utilization of living marine resources
There are important issues to be followed-up on, such as the draft text of
Technical Guidelines for Responsible Fish Trade. I believe that the recent Expert
Consultation on the Guidelines for Responsible Fish Trade in Washington made
significant progress in that resepct.