Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI)

About

The Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiations Institute (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, CSOs, MPs 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.