5 East African Economies Merge to Create One of Africa’s Largest Trading Blocks

Posted by Staff Writer on Wednesday, June 30, 2010 at 9:01am.

It’s Official! East Africa officially opens its borders to become one of Africa’s largest trading blocs, today.

The East African Community (EAC) trading bloc will create a market of close to 130 million people and a combined GDP of 80 billion dollars, making it one of the largest trading blocs in Africa.

However , even though July 1, 2010 marks the first official day of the union, the members made up of Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda are not expected to harmonize laws and regulations essential for a common market protocol for several years to come.

The treaty has already been ratified by member states. It provides for the free movement of goods , people, workers, services and capital as well as the right to reside in any of the member nations, as agreed by member states, removing all restrictions to these rights.

Speaking at the launch of a two year $2.5 million initiative project that will provide capacity building and technical assistance to the East Africa Power Pool, USAID/EA’s director, Candace Buzzard said this would improve the quality of life in the region.

EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY (EAC) QUICK FACTS
Area	1.82 MILLION SQ. KM
Population	127 Million (2010)
GDP	$80 Billion (2010)
EAC Headquarters	Arusha, Tanzania
Main Languages	English, Kiswahili
Founded by Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda	30 November, 1999
Burundi, Rwanda Joined	18 June, 2007
Common Market Protocol Active	1 July, 2010

The union will see an improvement and access to affordable, clean energy through regional electricity trade and exchange.

The union will also further enhance the development of the eastern Africa regional electricity market, promote reliability, address shortages, lower access costs and expand the regional power capacity.

Business owners from various sectors are looking forward to a larger market, despite some apprehension from the smaller and less developed nations.

There have been active discussions about creating a common currency as early as 2012.