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Home >> Know Africa
Regional Economic Communities (RECs)/Economic Organizations The African Economic Community (AEC) is an organization of African Union states that promotes mutual economic development among African states. The organization's objectives include include the creation of free trade areas, customs unions, a single market, a central bank, and a common currency thus establishing an economic and monetary union. Currently, there are multiple regional blocs in Africa, also known as Regional Economic Communities (RECs), many of which have overlapping memberships. The RECs consist primarily of trade blocs and, in some cases, some political and military cooperation. Most of these RECs form the 'pillars' of AEC, many of which also have an overlap in some of their member states. Several of these pillars also contain subgroups with tighter customs and/or monetary unions of their own. Membership: Founding states (1998): Burkina Faso, Chad, Libya, Mali, Niger, Sudan, Joined later: Central African Republic, Eritrea, Djibouti, Gambia, Senegal, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Somalia, Tunisia, Benin, Togo, Côted'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Comoros, Guinea Area(km): 29,910,442 Population: 853,520,010 GDP(PPP)($US): 2,053,706(in millions), Per Capita: 2,406 Total member states:53 Seat of Secretariat: Ethopia Website: www.dfa.gov.za Pillars of AEC Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) East African Community (EAC) Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS/CEEAC) Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Southern African Development Community (SADC) Southern African Customs Union (SACU) Arab Maghreb Union (AMU/UMA) COMESA: The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa. 
The grouping's principal objective is to promote regional economic integration through trade and investment. With its 19 member states, population of over 389 million and annual import bill of around US$32 billion with an export bill of US$82 billion COMESA forms a major market place for both internal and external trading. Established: December 1994 Number of Members: 19 Founder Members: Angola, Burundi, Comoros, D.R. Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Rwanda, Seycelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe Current members: Burundi,Comoros,Democratic Republic of the Djibouti, Eypt,Eritrea, Ethiopia,Kenya,Libya,Madagascar,Malawi,Mauritius,Rwanda,Seychelles,Sudan, Swaziland,Uganda,Zambia, Zimbabwe Area (km²):12,873,957 Population: 406,102,471 GDP/Economic indicators($US) : 735,599(in millions),1,811(per capita) Seat of Secretariat: Lusaka,Zambia Website: www.comesa.int East African Community (EAC) 
The East African Community (EAC) is an intergovernmental organisation comprising the five east African countries. EAC is one of the pillars of the African Economic Community. In 2008, the EAC, after negotiations with the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) agreed to an expanded free trade area including the member states of all three.Established: 7 July, 2000 Membership: 5 Members: Kenya , Uganda , Tanzania , Burundi , Rwanda Area: 1,817,945 km (2 701,028 sq mi) Population: estimate 124,858,568 - Density 55/km2 142.4/sq mi GDP (PPP) 2007 estimate - Total US$ 149 billion - Per capita US$ 1,200 GDP (nominal) 2007 estimate - Total US$ 61 billion - Per capita US$ 488 Headquarters: Arusha, Tanzania Website: http://www.eac.int/ ECCAS: Economic Community of Central African States 
At a summit meeting in December 1981, it was decided to form a wider economic community of Central African states. ECCAS was established on 18 October 1983 by the UDEAC members, Sao Tomé and Principe and the members of the Economic Community of the Great Lakes States. Angola remained an observer until 1999, when it became a full member.ECCAS began functioning in 1985, but was inactive for several years because of financial difficulties (non-payment of membership fees by the member states) and the conflict in the Great Lakes area like the war in the DR Congo. ECCAS has been designated a pillar of the African Economic Community (AEC), but formal contact between the AEC and ECCAS was only established in October 1999 due to the inactivity of ECCAS since 1992 (ECCAS signed the Protocol on Relations between the AEC and the regional blocs (RECs) in October 1999). The AEC again confirmed the importance of ECCAS as the major economic community in Central Africa at the third preparatory meeting of its Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in June 1999. Established: December,1981 Member States: 11 Members: Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe Area(square km): 6,667,421 Population: 5,60000 GDP (PPP) in millions $175,929 Per capita GDP: 1,451 Seat of Secretariat: Libreville Website: www.ceeac-eccas.org SADC: The Southern African Development Community (SADC) 
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is an intr-governmental organisation headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana. Its goal is to further socio-economic cooperation and integration as well as political and security cooperation among 15 southern African states. It complements the role of the African Union. Established: August 17,1992 No. of members: 15 Members: Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa, Mauritious, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar, Seychelles. Area(sq. km): 9,882,959 Population: 233,944,179 GDP(PPP)($US)737,335(in millions), Per capita: 3152 Seat of Secretariat: Gaborone, Botswana Website: www.sadc.int ECOWAS: The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) 
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is one of the pillars of the African Economic Community. The idea for a West African community goes back to President William Tubman of Liberia, who made the call in 1964. It is a regional group of fifteen West African countries, founded on May 28, 1975 with the signing of the Treaty of Lagos. Its mission is to promote economic integration. In 1976 Cape Verde joined ECOWAS, and in December 2000 Mauritania withdrew, having announced its intention to do so in December 1999.The idea for a West African community goes back to President William Tubman of Liberia, who made the call in 1964. An agreement was signed between Côte d'Ivoire,Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in February 1965, but this came to nothing. In April 1972, General Gowon of Nigeria and General Eyadema of Togo re-launched the idea, drew up proposals and toured 12 countries, soliciting their plan from July to August 1973. A meeting was then called at Lomé from 10-15 December 1973, which studied a draft treaty. This was further examined at a meeting of experts and jurists in Accra in January 1974 and by a ministerial meeting in Monrovia in January 1975. Finally, 15 West African countries signed the treaty for an Economic Community of West African States (Treaty of Lagos) on 28 May 1975. The protocols launching ECOWAS were signed in Lomé, Togo on 5 November 1976. Established: May 28,1975 Number of members: 15 members Member countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d' Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. Area(km): 5,11,903 Population: 251,646,263 GDP(PPP)($US): 342,519(billion), Per capita: 7890(per capita) Seat of Secretariat: Abuja,Nigeria Website: www.ecowas.int SACU: Southern African Customs Union 
The Southern African Customs Union (SACU) is a customs union among five countries of southern Africa. SACU is the oldest customs union in the world. It was established in 1910 as a Customs Union Agreement between the then Union of South Africa and the High Commission Territories of Bechuanaland, Basutoland and Swaziland. With the advent of independence for these territories, the agreement was updated and on December 11, 1969 it was relaunched as the SACU with the signing of an agreement between the Republic of South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. The updated union officially entered into force on March 1, 1970. After Namibia's independence from South Africa in 1990, it joined SACU as its fifth member.Established: 1910 Number of member countries: 5 Member countries: Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland Area(square km.): 2,693,418 Population: 51,055,878 GDP(PPP)($US):541,433(in millions) Per capita: 10,605 Seat of Secretariat: Windhoek, Namibia Website: www.sacu.int IGADD: Intergovernmental Authority on Development 
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGADD) was formed in1986 with a very narrow mandate around the issues of drought and desertification. Since then, and especially in the 1990s, IGADD became the accepted vehicle for regional security and political dialogue The founding members of IGADD decided in the mid-1990s to revitalise the organisation into a fully-fledged regional political, economic, development, trade and security entity similar to SADC and ECOWAS. It was envisaged that the new IGADD would form the northern sector of COMESA with SADC representing the southern sector.One of the principal motivations for the revitalisation of IGADD was the existence of many organisational and structural problems that made the implementation of its goals and principles ineffective. The IGADD Heads of State and Government met on 18 April 1995 at an Extraordinary Summit in Addis Ababa and resolved to revitalise the Authority and expand its areas of regional co-operation. On 21 March 1996, the Heads of State and Government at the Second Extraordinary Summit in Nairobi approved and adopted an Agreement Establishing the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD. Established: January 1986 Number of members: 7 Founder member countries: Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda Current member countries: Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda Area(square km.): 5,233,604 Population: 187,969,775 GDP(PPP)($US):225,049(in millions), Per capita: 1,197 Seat of Secretariat: Djibouti city, Djibouti Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa 
The Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (or CEMAC from its name in French, Communauté Économique et Monétaire de l'Afrique Centrale) is an organization of states of Central Africa established by Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon to promote economic integration among countries that share a common currency, the CFA franc. UDEAC signed a treaty for the establishment of CEMAC to promote the entire process of sub-regional integration through the forming of monetary union with the Central Africa CFA franc as a common currency; it was officially superseded by CEMAC in June 1999 (through agreement from 1994).CEMAC's objectives are the promotion of trade, the institution of a genuine common market, and greater solidarity among peoples and towards under-privileged countries and regions. Currently, CEMAC countries share a common financial, regulatory, and legal structure, and maintain a common external tariff on imports from non-CEMAC countries. In theory, tariffs have been eliminated on trade within CEMAC, but full implementation of this has been delayed. Movement of capital within CEMAC is free. No.of members: 6 Founder members: UDEAC (custom and economic union of Africa) Established: June 1999 Area(km): 3,020,142 Population: 34,920,529 GDP(PPP)($US):85,136(in millions), Per Capita: $2,435 Seat of Secretariat: Liberville Website: ceeac-eccas.org CEN-SAD: Community of Sahel-Saharan Stat establishment 
CEN-SAD was established in February 1998 by six countries, but since then its membership has grown to 28. One of its main goals is to achieve economic unity through the implementation of the free movement of people and goods in order to make the area occupied by member states a free trade area. At the international level, CEN-SAD gained observer status at the UN General Assembly in 2001 and concluded association and cooperation accords with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) as well as with UN specialized agencies and institutions such as UNDP, WHO, UNESCO, FAO, and the Permanent Interstate Committee for drought control in the Sahel.All CEN-SAD member countries are also participating in other African economic unions. The envisioned Free Trade Area of CEN-SAD would be hard to practically implement, because it is overlapping with the envisioned Customs Unions of ECOWAS, ECCAS and COMESA and other trade blocs more advanced in their integration. Established: February, 1998 Member States: 28 Founding Members: Burkina Faso , Chad , Libya, Mali, Niger, Sudan Current Members: Central African Republic , Eritrea , Djibouti, Gambia , Senegal, Egypt, Morocco , Nigeria , Somalia , Tunisia , Benin , Togo , Côte d'Ivoire , Guinea-Bissau , Liberia , Ghana , Sierra Leone , Comoros , Guinea , Kenya , Mauritania ,São Tomé and Príncipe Seat of Sectretariat: Tripoli,Libya Website: www.cen-sad.org |
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