SEATINI-UGANDA:
SEATINI was established in 1996, and opened an office in Uganda in 2001. SEATINI Uganda is the coordinating office for the Eastern African Sub-region. The purpose of SEATINI is to strengthen the capacity of the different stakeholders to effectively influence trade negotiations and policies at national, regional and international levels; and to better manage the process of globalisation.
Our Values: SEATINI thrives as an independent, people-centered non-profit seeking organisation driven by the values of openness, transparency, integrity and non-violence, working with diligence towards greater justice and equity.
In recognition of "Climate challenges", the 15th Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Conference on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held a meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, from December 6 – 19. The overall goal for the COP 15 Conference was to establish an ambitious global climate agreement for the period from 2012 when the first commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol expires... ............ ............. read >>
Building An Inclusive East African Community Project (2009-2010)
Economic Partnership Agreements
The Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the European Union (EU) and a group of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries are a continuation of pre-existing relations between certain Member States of the European Economic Community (EEC) and the territories that were under their jurisdictions at the beginning of the European economic integration process. These relations date back to the 1957 Treaty of Rome that established an association framework between the territories and the EEC followed by the signing of the Yaounde I and II Conventions in 1963 and 1969 respectively that were later replaced by the Lome Convention of 1975 and ultimately the Cotonou Partnership Agreement of 2001.
The EC-ACP association is characterised by maintaining close economic and commercial relations between the two regions, including the grant of certain financial incentives by the EC to the ACP countries in the form of development aid. In the Lome Convention, trade regime was characterised by the granting of preferential access to ACP states exports by the EC on a non-reciprocal basis. However, with the advent of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 1994, these relations were found to be incompatible with its Most Favoured Nation (MFN) rule. EC had to seek WTO waivers to stay in conformity with the WTO rules until when in 2001 it agreed to bring these relations in conformity with WTO rules by signing reciprocal agreements with the ACP countries.
In order to implement this commitment, EC started negotiating the EPAs in 2002. It was agreed to sequence the negotiations in two phases. The first phase would take place at an all ACP-EC level and would address horizontal issues of interest to all parties. The second phase would be at the level of ACP countries and regions, and would address specific commitments; this was done for six regions (West Africa, Central Africa, Eastern and Southern Africa, the Southern Africa development community, Caribbean and Pacific region). The WTO waiver granted to the parties was to expire by the end of 2007 and hence Interim Agreements were initialled with some of them in order to meet the deadline of the waiver.
A number of challenges still face Uganda in her efforts to effectively engage in the WTO negotiations, to protect and promote her national development interests. Although Uganda has gone a long way in defending her interests in the WTO negotiations as a result of increased technical capacity and the participation of stakeholders i.e. CSOs , Private sector , MPs , the capacity has not yet matched the increasing burden of the trade negotiations. The available human, technical and financial resources to effectively engage in the WTO negotiations are still inadequate
New Books:
In this book Professor Dani W. Nabudere explores The Meaning of Money, the impact of the global economic crisis on food production, its effects on Africa and what the response should be. He also advocates the reform of the Bretton Woods system and comes up with an alternative paradigm for the ordering of the global economy and governance[Abstract]
National Workshop on Building an Inclusive East African Community: Challenges and Opportunities
SEATINI –Uganda together with CUTS Geneva Resource Center organised National workshop under the theme “Building an Inclusive East African Community.” The workshop aimed at examining the opportunities and challenges in building an East African Community that is inclusive... more>>
Africa-wide Civil Society Preparatory Meeting for 7 WTO Ministerial Conference
African trade unions, farmers groups, faith-based groups, women’s organisations, non-governmental organisations and representatives of governments, parliaments, and social movements, met in Cape Town, South Africa, from 1-3 October, 2009 at meeting of the Africa Trade Network (ATN). Jointly hosted by the Economic Justice Network, South Africa, and the Third World Network-Africa, the meeting discussed strategy towards the 7 Ministerial Conference of the Word Trade Organisation (WTO) in Nov/Dec, 2009, and came to the following understandings.....[read the joint statement]
Gender and Women’s Rights
SEATINI-Uganda with support from One World Action and Commonwealth Secretariat organized a Regional Workshop entitled “Gender and Women’s Rights: Analysis of the EU/EAC Economic Partnership Agreement - Tanzania Country Study, held on 12- 13 MAY 2009, at Imperial Royale Hotel, Kampala, Uganda.. [more]
Workshop on Economic Partnership Agreements..
EALA Members on Communications, Trade and Investment Committee organized a workshop on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) on 7-8th April 2009 between EAC Ministers, Trade Ministers and Partner States, EPA technical advisors together with members of EAC Partner States Parliaments drawn from their Trade Committees, EAC officials and Civil Society. A draft resolution was a dopted by the participants...( click here to read)
SEATINI Trade News: Issue Apr-Jun 2009
Inside this Issue: Climate Change: Africa's Latest Challenge, Resource for combating Climate Change, Editorial by Ambassador Nathan Irumba, Active Round-up ...Download [PDF]
Launch of the Book on Financial Crisis
SEATINI Uganda launched a book entitled The Capitalist Crisis and The Way Forward for Africa. In this book Professor Nabudere explores the recent developments arising out of the global economic crisis, which is a reflection of the crisis of world capitalism and its impact on the lives of ordinary people such as the on-going high food prices. He argues that this crisis is a global one and that despite the earlier reaction in the African countries that the crisis will not affect Africa, its effects on the African economies is already being felt adversely. Professor Nabudere argues that the efforts by the G 20 Summit to reform the Bretton Woods system will not work because they just reinforce the role of the IMF whose policies have head an adverse impact on the African economies. He proposes an alternative paradigm for the ordering of the global economy and governance based on local production.
