India Joins the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies as the 123rd Member

22 July 2026National

India deposited its Instrument of Acceptance of the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies (AFS) on 20 July 2026, becoming the 123rd WTO member to accept it. Adopted at the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) in 2022 and in force since September 2025, it is the WTO's first multilateral agreement with an environmental sustainability objective. It bans subsidies for Illegal, Unreported & Unregulated (IUU) fishing, for fishing on unregulated high seas, and for harvesting overfished stocks.

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WTO est.: 1 Jan 1995, HQ Geneva | Director-General: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala | Successor to GATT (1947) | MC13 held in Abu Dhabi (2024)

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India became the 123rd member to accept the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, the WTO's first pact with an environmental-sustainability goal.

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