Protecting environment key in move towards WTO
As part of its moves to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Seychelles will have to sign an agreement to prevent imports of plants and animals that could seriously damage our environment.
Delegates at the workshop listening to Mr Morin (centre in picture above) yesterday. Extreme right is Ms Stanton
Such damage, in turn, could have a major negative effect on our tourism industry, said Charles Morin, Seychelles’ chief negotiator in the WTO talks.
He explained the situation yesterday while addressing delegates at a workshop organised by the Ministry of Finance, in collaboration with the WTO, to brief stakeholders on the importance of the agreement for international trade in agricultural goods.
He said Seychelles will have to be a signatory to the WTO’s Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement, which is aimed at protecting the lives and health of humans or animals (sanitary) and plants (phytosanitary).
The two-day workshop launched yesterday at Care House in Victoria is also part of the education programme of stakeholders and the general public as the country continues its moves to join the WTO.
It is being led by the secretary of the SPS committee, Gretchen Stanton, and local professionals.
Mr Morin said in the area of SPS, island states remain extremely vulnerable to the introduction of non-native plants, animals and disease-causing pathogens.
Introducing these foreign organisms, he said, has the potential to destroy endemic plant and animal life, and this will quickly translate into environmental degradation with a knock-on impact on the tourism industry.
Mr Morin said the link between introducing foreign organisms, environmental degradation and the potentially disastrous effect on the tourism industry is just one example of the importance of having SPS measures in place in small island developing states.
He added that the SPS regime in Seychelles, which is governed by Animals (Diseases and Imports), Plants, Pests, Public Health and Quarantine Acts aims at prevention rather than cure.
He noted, however, that some of these laws are more than 30 years old and need urgent review as they do not take into account the latest developments in the area of SPS.
In view of this, he explained that the Ministry of Finance has made an official request to the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group’s Multilateral Trading System programme for technical help to review these laws and also to train customs and agriculture agency officials.
Regarding Seychelles’ commitment to joining the WTO, Mr Morin said it is still there, despite the human resources and capacity constraints faced.
“It is felt that the opportunity is right for Seychelles to join the WTO and benefit from integration into the world economy,” he added.
Among topics to be covered during the workshop are the WTO and non-tariff barriers; Seychelles’ main concerns in the areas of animal health, food safety and plant protection; transparency in the SPS measures; a review of the SPS basic obligations; and resolving trade disputes.