SEATINI Holds Stakeholders’ Debriefing meeting about the  outcomes of the 12th Ministerial Conference at the WTO

World Trade Organization (WTO) members concluded the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) in Geneva on 17 June, 2022 securing multilaterally negotiated outcomes on a series of key trade initiatives. MC12 has led to significant decisions on a range of issues.

Inorder to foster a deeper understanding of the implications of the WTO outcomes to Uganda’s development, SEATINI Uganda organized a debriefing meeting with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) about the outcomes of the 12th Ministerial Conference at the WTO.

While giving her remarks, Ms Brenda Akankunda, Trade and Investment Policy Analyst at SEATINI Uganda highlighted that there was limited participation of African CSOs during the 12th Ministerial Conference.

Mr. Kenneth Mwehonge, the Executive Director, Coalition for Health Promotion Uganda noted that it is important that stakeholders engage to understand the outcomes of the Conference as they have implications on the policy making space at the National, regional and continental level. He also noted that it is critical to continuously build the capacity of stakeholders to understand the declarations made by Ministers during the Conference and the likely implications on Uganda and Africa at large.

Ms Georgina Mugerwa, the Principal Commercial Officer from Ministry of Trade noted that a ministerial declaration on the TRIPS waiver provides a temporary waiver of patents on Covid-19 vaccines. This shall be used to respond to only Covid-19 pandemic and not to other health crises for a period of five years.

The debriefing meeting culminated into the formation of a national Trade and Investment coalition through which various actors can effectively influence and engage on trade and investment related issues. SEATINI Uganda was selected to host and coordinate the Trade and Investment working group.