THE World Trade Organisation (WTO) chief on Wednesday urged members to prepare to make tough calls and pave the way for a ministerial meeting in July in a bid to deliver on a 20-year pending agreement that will curb harmful State support for over-fishing.

"We will be asking ministers to meet virtually in July with a focus on fisheries subsidies," Director-General Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said. "The aim of that meeting will be for ministers to review a very advanced, hopefully final, text."

Before then, an intermediate text containing middle-ground provisions will be important to capture progress made since the most recent version of the draft consolidated text was circulated in December, the fisheries subsidies negotiations chair, Colombia’s Mr Santiago Wills said.

"As we enter into this final phase, our process also needs to change," he said, noting that non-stop, text-based consultations with heads of delegations will be vital to quickly find acceptable landing zones that can be put to ministers.

"We are now at the stage where political will to make tough calls and compromises has to be used," he added.

The heads of delegations gathered for a cluster of discussions from April 12-16, focusing on key issues where higher-level attention was needed to make progress such as a possible exemption for subsidies to subsistence, artisanal, or small-scale fishing; due process requirements for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing determinations; and the approach to the prohibition of subsidies contributing to overcapacity and overfishing.

Members also discussed the prohibition of subsidies related to overfished stocks, particularly how to ensure its coherence with the other fisheries subsidies disciplines.

"Our job is to protect the fish and to protect the many millions of fisher men and women who directly depend on the fish," DG Okonjo-Iweala said. "I remain committed to reaching a meaningful outcome soon and I am sure that if we all put in the hard work needed, we will get there in July."

Negotiators have been given the task of securing agreement on disciplines to eliminate subsidies for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and to prohibit certain forms of fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, with special and differential treatment being an integral part of the negotiations. e current and future workforce to meet the challenges of climate change.