ABU DHABI: The World Trade Organisation (WTO) tonight announced that South Africa has officially approved the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies during the closing session of the 13th Ministerial Conference, which concluded today in Abu Dhabi. With this approval, the number of WTO members that have officially approved the Agreement has increased to 71, with 39 more approvals needed for the agreement to enter into force. The WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, adopted at the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) on 17 June 2022, marks a major step forward for ocean sustainability by prohibiting harmful fisheries subsidies, which are a key factor in the widespread depletion of the world's fish stocks. The Agreement represents a historic achievement for the membership as the first Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target to be fully met, the first SDG target met through a multilateral agreement, the first WTO agreement to focus on the environment, the first broad, binding, multilateral agreement on ocean sustain ability, and only the second agreement reached at the WTO since its inception. Source: Emirates News Agency