The Marrakesh Agreement, manifested by the Marrakesh Declaration, was signed in Marrakesh, Morocco, by 123 nations on 15 April 1994. It marked the culmination of the 8-year-long Uruguay Round and led to the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which officially came into being on 1 January 1995.
Background
The agreement evolved from the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and was supplemented by several other key agreements, including those on:
- Trade in Services
- Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
- Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)
- Technical Barriers to Trade
Key Features
- Creation of the WTO: The Marrakesh Agreement formalized the creation of a global trade body to oversee multilateral trade negotiations and rules.
- Dispute Resolution: It introduced a legally binding and more efficient dispute resolution system than existed under GATT.
- Single Undertaking Principle: The various agreements that comprise the Marrakesh Agreement are indivisible; a party cannot adopt one without adopting them all.
See Also
- UN Global Compact for Migration(https://www.un.org/en/global-compact-migration/) — Developed in Marrakesh and New York conferences in 2018
References
(No specific citations provided)