Dr. Majid bin ' Abdullah al-Qasabi, Minister of Commerce and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the
General Authority of Foreign Trade headed the Kingdom's delegation in the virtual ministerial meeting of the Trade Negotiations Committee on fisheries subsidy controls, for which called Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of the WTO and Chairman of the Trade Negotiations Committee. In the Kingdom's speech, al-Qasabi emphasized the Kingdom's interests and stances toward fisheries subsidy controls and the negotiation text, which demands excluding fuel from the test and keeping unallocated subsidies outside the agreement framework. Moreover, he emphasized the importance of small-scale artisanal fisheries, the need to grant them the necessary flexibility, and their importance in achieving development goals and combating poverty among millions of people, adding that special and preferential treatment is an integral part of negotiations on fisheries subsidy controls. He concluded his speech expressing the Kingdom's willingness to make constructive efforts with the members of the WTO to achieve successful outcomes in the negotiations on fisheries subsidy before the 12th ministerial meeting. In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency, Mr. Abdulrahman bin Ahmed Al-Harbi, Governor of the General Authority of Foreign Trade and member of the Kingdom's delegation in this meeting, emphasized the Kingdom's commitment to a multilateral balanced, fair, and comprehensive trade system based on foundations capable of addressing the current imbalances marring the multilateral trade regulations to ensure the prosperity and welfare of all the WTO's member states, particularly the developing and least developed countries. He praised the WTO's role in promoting economic development and trade on the global level, pointing out that the Kingdom plays a pivotal role in the global trade system, with the foremost being the recently launched Riyadh's initiative on the future of the WTO that was approved by the leaders of the G20 during the Kingdom's term in 2020. It is currently underway within the framework of the WTO in such a way as to achieve the WTO's goals and develop its activities. Al-Harbi expressed the Kingdom's aspiration to achieve balanced outcomes on the level of negotiations on fisheries subsidy controls while taking into consideration the interests of each member to achieve results that comply with sustainable development goals and the deliverables of the WTO's 11th conference.