Search

5.29. Tonga is able to offer a number of specialist tourism attractions, including marine wildlife such as the humpback whale and manta ray, and a variety of cultural experiences. The country has a number of marine parks and reserves, which are an important means to protect the value of tourism revenues. (...)

5.32. Tonga has the potential for seafloor mining of various metals, and has provided exploration licences to commercial partners for over ten years. (...) The Seabed Minerals Act 2014, which was developed in collaboration with the EU and SPC, has set a global precedent for the legal architecture of socially, economically and environmentally sustainable development of this sector. (...) There has been a lively debate at both the national and regional levels regarding the social and environmental consequences of seabed mining, and possible mitigating actions that could be taken to reduce any negative effects. The Government is using the current hiatus to engage with civil society on these issues and to monitor and review developments in this sector.

6.3. Tonga's second core interest in the fisheries subsidies negotiation is to protect the Government's ability to provide subsidies that would enable the Tongan fleet to capture a greater share of the commercial fish available within the country's EEZ in a sustainable way. (...).

7.3. Few countries are more seriously affected by natural disasters than Tonga, and so recognizing the connection between natural disasters and trade is vital. The onset of climate change, bringing greater unpredictability and frequency of natural disasters, will not only continue to damage the natural environment, but will often set back long-term development efforts in a single day. For a country like Tonga, it is not possible to design trade policy without an integrated appreciation of how economic development will continue to be complicated by natural disasters.

7.4. A further challenge is to identify how the multilateral trading system can do more to build the resilience of international trade to natural disasters, especially for small countries. Whilst many discussions are taking place in international fora on developing resilience to climate change, the WTO also has a vital role to play to ensure that the trade dimension of resilience is not overshadowed.

1. (...) A succession of natural disasters, namely the extensive damage caused by Tropical Cyclones Gita (2018), Tino (2020), and Harold (2020), and the large COVID-19-pandemic-induced contraction in global economic activity brought about a significant economic downturn. (...)

10. Import licensing requirements continue to be used mainly for national security, public safety, health, and environmental reasons. (...)

17. Agriculture remains an increasingly predominant economic activity despite the impact of natural disasters. Its contribution to GDP rose from 14.2% in FY 2013/14 to 17.7% in FY 2018/19. The main agricultural products remain root crops, squash pumpkins, and kava. Food security challenges persist, as Tonga is a net importer of staple foods whose self-sufficiency remains to be addressed together with other government policy objectives including climate resilient agriculture, the enabling environment, subsistence-level production, import substitution, and export orientation. (...)

18. (...) Government policy was aimed at maximizing the sustainable contribution of the [fisheries] sector to food security and economic growth. A separate Ministry of Fisheries was established in 2016. Regulatory changes related to, inter alia, fisheries issues of coastal communities, whereas action was taken to strengthen Tonga's framework against illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. Average tariff protection levels were reduced significantly, i.e. from 10.6% in 2013 to 0.9% in 2020. (...)

19. Tonga remains heavily dependent on petroleum imports to meet its energy needs for electricity and transportation, but initiatives for raising renewable energy sources helped reduce its dependency level. Policy initiatives for energy efficiency were pursued. Tonga Power Limited, the vertically integrated and entirely state-owned utility, continues to own and operate virtually all in front-of-meter electricity generation, as well as all transmission and distribution assets; (...).