Tuesday, August 28, 2007 More participants to join tuna gab
GENERAL SANTOS CITY -- It's all systems go for the annual holding of the tuna congress in this city dubbed as the "Tuna Capital of the Philippines," organizers said Monday.
At least 500 delegates, including foreigners from Thailand, France, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Norway, Korea and Solomon Islands, are expected to grace the event with the theme "Sustainable Tuna Industry: Defining Boundaries, Facing New Realities."
Bayani Fredeluces, executive director of the Socsksargen Federation of Fishing and Allied Industries, Inc., said senior Philippine trade and agriculture officials will arrive in the city to show their support to the tuna industry.
"The number of participants this year is about double the figures in previous tuna congress," he noted.
Now on its ninth year, the tuna congress will be held at the new Convention Center of the KCC Mall of General Santos City on August 31 to September 1, 2007. Product exhibits however will start earlier on August 30, 2007.
The annual tuna congress, which is supported by the United States Agency for International Development-funded Growth With Equity in Mindanao, is one of the major highlights of the annual Tuna Festival, which is timed with the celebration of the city's Charter Anniversary.
Fredeluces said the top issue identified by the country's tuna industry players will be the maritime boundary delineation because the country is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (Unclos).
The convention establishes a comprehensive framework for the regulation on the use of all ocean space including seabed and sub-soil and provides basis for determination of limits of national jurisdiction.
It also provides explicit authority to explore and exploit resources of the continental shelf and adjacent seabed out to 200 nautical miles from the shore.
Fredeluces said market and fishing access with other countries would also be tackled during the congress.
Philippine canned tuna products in the United States are presently slapped with a 6 percent tariff for in-quota shipment and 12.5 percent for out-quota.
In the European Union, it is 12 percent for in-quota shipments and 24 percent for out-quota. This bilateral agreement is set to expire June 30, 2008.
Industry players are also expected to renew their calls for the government to expedite the negotiations for bilateral fishing access agreements with neighboring countries like Indonesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Federated States of Micronesia and other Pacific Island Countries.
