The texts signed in Marrakesh on that day were the result of the 1986-94 Uruguay Round negotiations, an unprecedented endeavour in international trade which produced more than 60 agreements and decisions totalling 550 pages - making it one of the largest treaties ever signed. The signing took place at a meeting of trade ministers to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and led to the transformation of the GATT into the WTO.

The WTO’s creation on 1 January 1995 marked the biggest reform of international trade since after the Second World War. It also brought to reality — in an updated form — the failed attempt in 1948 to create an International Trade Organization.  Today the WTO has 164 members accounting for 98% of world trade.

"The agreements you will sign here this week mean opportunities to expand trade, economic growth and employment," declared Peter Sutherland, the last GATT Director-General and the WTO's first Director-General, at the opening of the Marrakesh meeting. "They mean opportunities to promote sustainable development.  And they also mean an opportunity – the most significant one we have had for fifty years – to build a new basis for global economic cooperation." His full speech is available here.

Find out more:

• An explanation of the Uruguay Round
• The WTO Agreements
• History of the multilateral trading system