AFD – IORA Webinar: Enhancing knowledge on international trade and markets of fish products in IORA

As part of the French Development Agency (AFD) funded project on technical assistance for the Implementation of the IORA Action Plan on Fisheries, Aquaculture and the Marine Environment, one of the specific objectives of this project is “Promoting and implementing open market access to fish trade, including aquaculture”. In the context of this objective, the activity “Enhance the knowledge of Member states on international trade and markets for fisheries and aquaculture products” is planned as a response towards the IORA Action plan.  This webinar forms part of that activity.

The webinar will be organized by the IORA Secretariat with the technical assistance of COFREPECHE. It will be introduced by the IORA Secretariat and the Working Group on the Blue Economy.

The countries of the IORA region as a group are major players on the international market for seafood products, and the region’s exports and imports have risen markedly over the years. A distinct feature of this trade is that the region as a whole imports less than it exports, and import prices are lower than export prices. In other words, the region as a group has a positive trade balance, although this also varies from country to country. The trade performance of the region is largely positive, indicating that most of the countries are performing well, while a few are not performing so well. Intra-regional trade between IORA member states is relatively low, and could be enhanced with better access to market information and opportunities, including through inherent bilateral or multilateral trade arrangements. Some of the major challenges facing the region include: food insecurity, trade facilitation and capacity development deficiencies, infrastructure deficiencies, lack of marketing information as well as other and emerging threats such as IUU fishing, climate change and pandemics. The webinar session will aim to enhance the knowledge and understanding of international trade situation for seafood products within the IORA region.

Join now:

Title: Enhancing knowledge on international trade and markets of fish products in IORA

Venue:  Virtual Meeting

Date:  Tuesday, 12 October 2021 07:00 – 09:00 (GMT)

Registration:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeiBr2AJ76rPhOy4QQDp3hgm4wMkRUGx4BE_QLd2YJT9IXVGQ/

The webinar will be moderated by Mr Daroomalingum Mauree, the main resident expert of the project, and presented by the TA Team/Fish Trade Experts of Mr Erik Hempel (Norway); Mr Blessing Mapfumo (South Africa); representatives from FAO Globefish.

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