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The Ministry of Economic Development, Planning Trade and Cooperatives also coordinates the work of the Cabinet appointed National Trade Policy Coordinating Committee (NTPCC), which comprises representatives of Ministries and Departments with a bearing on trade policy, as well as representatives of the Private Sector and Civil Society. The NTPCC informs the development of trade policy and adopts positions for trade negotiations with respect to market access for goods and services, government procurement, intellectual property rights, investment, labour market mobility, trade and labour, trade and environment, trade facilitation, dispute settlement, among others. (…)

(…) In June 2014, the President issued a Presidential Memorandum on Combating Illegal Fishing and Seafood Fraud. The memorandum established a Presidential Task Force and directed it to develop a comprehensive framework to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing and seafood fraud.

The plan also provides for responsive, improved management of forestry and pastoral resources based on fire prevention, reforestation, reduced over grazing and forestry management.

Although Iceland strongly supports multilateral solutions, it notes that plurilateral agreements can be a powerful tool for trade opening and more liberalization. In many instances, they can provide immediate benefits for trade and growth. Iceland has accordingly engaged in various plurilateral initiatives conducted in the margins of the WTO, including the Information Technology Agreement and the negotiations for an Environmental Goods Agreement. Iceland has also participated in the negotiations on a plurilateral Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) and remains committed to the conclusion of the negotiations. Furthermore, Iceland actively partakes in the plurilateral initiative to prohibit harmful fisheries subsidies. It foresees, as other participants in these initiatives, that they can, once concluded, be integrated into the WTO framework at a later stage.

The Chinese Government attaches great importance to conserving resources, protecting environment and addressing climate change. China is vigorously promoting energy conservation, emission reduction, and pollution prevention and control, through proactively curbing excess and outdated production capacity in certain industries. All these tasks are important component of China's efforts in adjusting industrial structure and transforming its economic development pattern. In particular, tackling severe production overcapacity is our priority in pushing forward the industrial restructuring now and in the years to come.

Except for ambergris, no duty or taxes are levied on exports. Maldives does not impose a quota system on any general import items under its current policies. However, on environmental grounds, Maldives imposes a quota on the import of substances that deplete the ozone layers such as HCFC gas and also on export of live tropical aquarium fish. Maldives has also banned export of 20 marine products to protect the endangered fauna.

The EU and its Member States collectively drive global ‘Aid for trade’ efforts as the world's largest donor accounting for more than a third of global support, to the current tune of €12 billion per year. As a component of Official Development Assistance, EU Aid for Trade is programmed according to beneficiary needs, but with clear priorities, including support for implementing the Trade Facilitation Agreement and an ongoing commitment to prioritize the Least Developed Countries. Moreover, in its recent Communication on a New European Consensus on Development the EU committed itself to further coordinate development cooperation programmes (such as Aid for Trade) with trade policy tools to support sustainable development, including inclusive growth.

Other initiatives include a joint seminar by the Friends of Palm Oil (FPO), namely Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Colombia, Guatemala, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Honduras on “Sustainability and NTBs to Trade – The case study of palm oil” held on 26 September 2017 on the side-lines of the WTO Public Forum. The session involving presentations by nine panellists from the Government and private sectors, as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), was held to negate and correct the negative perception on palm oil based on factual and scientific evidence, showcase respective Governments’ initiatives towards various sustainability criteria, as well as challenges faced by FPO due to unjustified NTBs imposed by some WTO members.

The strategy with the forest development and forestry development plan with the Action Plan has been adopted in 2014, in which guidelines are given how to improve and valorize this important natural resource. In 2017, year is begun with the reform of the organization and system of forest management in cooperation with international experts and it is expected that the new concept will start with the realization in 2018.

Since being established in 2007, CPAC has been taking stock of the use of pesticides and developing the tools required for registration. CPAC has just finalized an agro- ecological map of the subregion.