India will not accept the WTO draft on fisheries, India will not compromise with the interests of 90 lakh fishermen

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal made it clear in the WTO ministerial conference on Tuesday that the draft prepared for the fisheries agreement is not acceptable to India. According to this, the WTO wants to limit fishing and stop subsidies and financial assistance to fishermen. Developed countries have already removed a lot of fish from the sea, so now they are in favor of the WTO draft.

Goyal said that India should be exempted from giving subsidy for 25 years and during this time the subsidy given to fishermen of developed countries should be stopped. Only then the level playing field will be ready. 

This WTO draft will not apply to countries whose Human Development Index is less than 0.8. That's why many countries are not interested in this proposal, but there are 9 million fishermen in India and fishing is also related to food security.

Goyal said that Sri Lanka is passing through serious challenges. India has enough food grains in the public stock holding, so that India can help the needy neighboring countries. Goyal said that it is not understood why the WTO is not allowing food exports at the government-to-government level from government reserves. According to sources, a decision on exports at the government-to-government level is not expected in the conference.