Riyadh, July 15, 2021, SPA -- Minister of Commerce and Investment Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, who is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Authority for Foreign Trade, headed the Kingdom's delegation to the virtual meeting of the Trade Negotiating Committee which discussed the fisheries support controls. In a speech before the meeting, held at an invitation of the Director-General of the World Trade Organization Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who is also Chairman of WTO Trade Negotiations Committee, Al-Qasabi reiterated the Kingdom’s interests and positions on the fisheries subsidy negotiations and the negotiating text, which demands excluding fuel subsidies from the negotiating text and that the unallocated support must remain outside the framework of the agreement. He also stressed the importance of small-scale artisanal fisheries and the need to give this category the necessary flexibility due to their importance in achieving development goals and combating poverty for millions of people, and that special and differential treatment is an integral part of the negotiations on fisheries support controls. He expressed the Kingdom's readiness to work constructively with the WTO members to achieve successful results in the fisheries support negotiations before the upcoming 12th Ministerial Conference. Meanwhile, the Governor of the General Authority of Foreign Trade Abdulrahman bin Ahmed Al -Harbi, a member of the Kingdom’s delegation to the meeting, stressed in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency, that the Kingdom is committed to a fair, balanced and comprehensive multilateral trading system, based on rules capable of addressing the current imbalances in the rules of multilateral trade, to ensure prosperity for all WTO members, especially developing and least developed countries. Al-Harbi highlighted the pivotal role of the world trade governing body in promoting trade and economic development at the global level, noting that the Kingdom plays a leading role in the global trade system, citing Riyadh initiative on the future of the World Trade Organization, which was adopted by the G20 leaders. He also expressed the Kingdom's aspiration to achieve balanced results regarding the negotiations on fisheries support controls, taking into account the interests of each member to reach tangible results in line with the sustainable development goals and the outcomes of WTO’s 11th ministerial conference. --SPA 22:45 LOCAL TIME 19:45 GMT 0027 www.spa.gov.sa/w1586050