Parliamentary Conference on the Wto

3. In the fifty years preceding the Doha ministerial conference, there have been eight rounds of negotiations. After the establishment of the GATT in 1948, there were six rounds of tariff-cutting negotiations. This was followed by the first successful attack on non-tariff barriers in the Tokyo Round negotiations, launched in 1973, and in 1993, by the completion of the Uruguay Round, launched in 1986. In this latter negotiating round, tariffs were eliminated for many industrial sectors; trade in services began to be liberalized pursuant to international commitments; some basic trade rules affecting investment were put into place; and an agreement was reached to protect intellectual property.