The Uruguay Round created the World Trade Organization and concluded in 1994.
Launched in Punta del Este, Uruguay, in 1986, the round was the eighth major negotiating round under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. It covered more subjects than earlier rounds, including services, intellectual property and agriculture.
The negotiations ended with the Marrakesh Agreement, signed on 15 April 1994 in Marrakesh, Morocco. That agreement established the WTO, which began operating on 1 January 1995. The Uruguay Round therefore marks the transition from the GATT system to the modern multilateral trade organization.
A common mix-up is confusing the Uruguay Round with the Doha Round. Doha began in 2001 and has not produced a comparable founding agreement. The Tokyo Round and Kennedy Round were earlier GATT negotiations and did not create the WTO.