The FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Division will participate at the first WCO Symposium “Visualising a Greener HS”, which will take place on 5 October in Brussels, Belgium.

For the first time, a Symposia Series, organised by the World Customs Organization (WCO), will be from 5 October 2022 to 23 January 2023. Following on from the WCO Green Conference, the goal of the symposia series is to seek actionable ideas to make the 2027 edition of the HS increasingly green, bearing in mind that the United Nations 2023 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognises the importance of international trade to ensure greater environmental sustainability, promoting development and economic growth.

Involving Customs administrations, HS stakeholders and users in a series of symposia gives another way for the HSC and the WCO Secretariat to engage in the necessary conversations to support this work. The stakes are high as the need for HS support of green policy measures is being increasingly identified by Members and other Intergovernmental Organisations.

FAO will participate in the first session “Expanding food horizons – recognizing agricultural diversity for sustainable global food security” by giving a presentation on the reecent major changes and trends in the international trade of fisheries and aquaculture products. The presentation will explain the importance of fisheries and aquaculture products in food security, the rising use of by-products in the industry and their supply to other economic sectors, as well as the unique characteristics of fish fraud in international trade.

For more information about the Symposia Series, please click here.