A national fisherfolk coalition warned Friday against mandatory sectoral talks in the World Trade Organization, saying it would only benefit rich countries that wanted greater market access for their products.

In a statement, the Kilusang Mangingisda (Fisherfolk Movement) denounced the Philippine negotiators’ refusal earlier this month to join the Non-Agriculture Market Access (NAMA) 11 group of countries against mandatory or compulsory sectoral talks.

Sectoral talks refer to a type of negotiations in the WTO that would cover specific industries, it said.

NAMA refers to products that are not covered by the Agreement on Agriculture or the negotiations on services. These include manufacturing products, fuel and mining products, fish and fish products, and forestry products. The negotiations are deemed crucial as NAMA products account for almost 90 percent of the world’s merchandise exports.

The group said the Philippine negotiators’ refusal was “tantamount to favoring mandatory sectoral talks that would result in further tariff reductions.” Sectoral talks would likely result in tariff cuts that would be bigger than those prescribed in the Nama tariff-binding formula that developing countries also found unacceptable, said Roland Vibal, chairman of Kilusang Mangingisda.

“We agree that removing tariffs in a range of sectors would be contrary to the Doha round’s development mandate, which calls for developing countries to have smaller tariff cuts than those of rich nations in accordance with the principles of special and differential treatment and less than full reciprocity,” he said.