Trade experts, diplomats to meet in Entebbe ahead of WTO talks

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African civil society groups, diplomats and trade experts will meet in Entebbe to try to forge a common African stance ahead of the World Trade Organisation (WTO’s) Fourteenth Ministerial Conference, scheduled for March in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

The three-day meeting, running from February 3 to 5, comes as pressure mounts on the multilateral trading system and as African countries face growing divisions over new trade rules.

The consultation is being organised by Third World Network–Africa, SEATINI-Uganda and ENDA CACID under the Africa Trade Network umbrella. It will bring together selected Geneva-based ambassadors, leaders of the Africa Group and the Least Developed Countries group, independent trade experts and civil society organisations working on trade across the continent.

Organisers say the aim is to review and consolidate African positions on key items on the WTO agenda, and to help African actors speak with greater coherence before and during the ministerial conference.

Tetteh Hormeku, the head of programmes at TWN-Africa, will open the meeting alongside Jane Nalunga, executive director of SEATINI, and Souleymane Barro, director of ENDA CACID.

Sessions will examine how big powers are reshaping the trade landscape, with contributions from Vahini Naidu of the South Centre in Geneva and Jane Kelsey, a professor at the University of Auckland known for her critiques of trade liberalisation.

Ambassador Geraldo Saranga, leader of the Africa Group in Geneva, and Nelson Ndirangu, Kenya’s former ambassador to the WTO, are expected to weigh in on what these shifts mean for Africa and for the Yaoundé ministerial.