SEATINI - Southern and Eastern African Trade, Information and Negotiations Institute

The Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI) – Uganda is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) registered in Uganda in 2001 to work on issues of trade, tax and related fiscal processes at local, national, regional and global levels for the realisation of sustainable development and improved livelihoods in Uganda, East Africa and the African Region.

SEATINI-Uganda is part of SEATINI, a sub-regional NGO working in Eastern and Southern Africa with offices in Harare Zimbabwe and Nairobi Kenya. SEATINI-Uganda is the regional coordinating office for East Africa. Although the offices operate independently, they subscribe to the overall SEATINI vision, mission, values and broad objectives.

SEATINI was founded in 1996 soon after the WTO Singapore Ministerial Conference, after realizing that Africa in particular and Third World countries in general were marginalized in the WTO negotiations and other global processes. Government’s capacity to negotiate was limited and the participation of other stakeholders’ i.e. Private Sector, Civil Society Organisations, Members of Parliament was very minimal. The Civil Society’s understanding of the complexities of the international regime was also limited. Civil society was also largely excluded from the trade negotiations and decision-making both at home and in international fora. The private sector was not adequately informed about the challenges of globalization and the effect on them of the multilateral trading regime and thus their limited participation. The role of the Parliamentarians was on the periphery.