The agreement establishing the World Trade Organization was signed in Marrakesh, Morocco, in 1994.
The Marrakesh Agreement was signed on 15 April 1994 at the conclusion of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations. It created the legal and institutional framework for the WTO, which began operating on 1 January 1995.
The agreement is formally known as the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization. Its annexes contain major trade agreements covering goods, services, intellectual property, dispute settlement, and trade-policy reviews.
Marrakesh is therefore linked to the WTO’s legal birth, while Geneva is linked to its headquarters. Doha, by contrast, is associated with the 2001 ministerial conference that launched the Doha Development Agenda.