Nguyễn Hoàng Thái Hy

Nguyễn Phượng An

Lecturers, Faculty of International Law,

Ho Chi Minh City University of Law

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is currently realigning its strategic objectives to place greater emphasis on the utilization of trade as a means to attain wider objectives of economic advancement and sustainability. The Fisheries Subsidies Agreement, which has recently been concluded, exemplify the World Trade Organization's shift towards a novel trade and sustainability discourse. Further exploration is required to determine the degree to which sustainability may be in competition with or subordinate to other policy objectives, such as national security, fair competition, efficiency, or diversification concerns. Following the recent acceptance by the United States, the agreement is poised to become legally enforceable among its member states. As a member of WTO, Vietnam has entered into regional free trade agreements (FTAs) that incorporate clauses pertaining to the favorable treatment of Vietnamese seafood products upon importation by member nations within the same region. These agreements include the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), and the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA). The simultaneous implementation of all these commitments is decisive in achieving the sustainable development of fisheries that Vietnam has been pursuing. As a result, our research will examine first Vietnam's current legislation on fisheries subsidies, then the legal framework's compatibility with existing international treaties, and finally the assumptive implementation of the WTO Fisheries Subsidy Agreement.