The EU Commissioner for Fisheries & Oceans, Costas Kadis, was in Rome this week to discuss his plans for the forthcoming EU Oceans Pact, the 2025 UN Oceans Conference in Nice, UNOC3 and the next steps for the Common Fisheries Policies with fishermen, stakeholders, politicians, experts from the Rome-based UN agencies FAO, FAO-GFCM, IFAD and representatives from the diplomatic community. High on the agenda were blue investment & blue growth, a sustainable aquaculture and the need to have binding international agreements to ensure an effective fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Fisheries & Oceans are always also a matter of geopolitics.

Commissioner Costas Kadis met with the FAO Director-General, where discussions covered issues such as the need for legally binding agreements against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, the need for acquaculture to be sustainable, the fact that public international law is the foundation for substantive work in international organisations and the support to the UN SG Antonio Guterres to start a review of the whole UN system to make it more efficient and accountable.

The EU will continue to work constructively with FAO on the basis of our common EU values and polices. The close cooperation with FAO that is fit for purpose is part of the EU’s new vision for agriculture and food. 

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FAO

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