African Economic Community

██ members of AEC pillar blocs ██ states signatories to the AEC Treaty, but not participating in any of the pillars The African Economic Community (abbreviated AEC) is an organization of African Union states establishing grounds for mutual economic development. The member states are mounting efforts to collaborate economically, but are impeded by civil wars raging in parts of Africa. The stated goals of the organization 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. Contents 1 Pillars of the African Economic Community 1.1 Pillar membership 1.2 Other blocs 2 Goals 2.1 Stages progress 2.2 Overall progress 3 Comparison between Regional blocs 4 See also 5 References 6 External Links 7 Categories Pillars of the African Economic Community Currently there are multiple Regional blocs in Africa, also known as Regional Economic Communities (abbreviated 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. Due to this high proportion of overlap it is likely that some states with several memberships will eventually drop out of one or more RECs. Several of these pillars also contain subgroups with tighter customs and/or monetary unions of their own: These pillars and their corresponding subgroups are as follows: Pillars Subgroups 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) Pillar membership CEN-SAD Founding states (1998):  Libya  Burkina Faso  Mali  Niger  Chad  Sudan Joined later: 1999:  Central African Republic 1999:  Eritrea 2000:  Djibouti 2000:  The Gambia 2000:  Senegal 200?:  Benin 200?:  Côte d'Ivoire 200?:  Egypt 200?:  Ghana 200?:  Guinea-Bissau 200?:  Liberia 200?:  Morocco 200?:  Nigeria 200?:  Sierra Leone 200?:  Somalia 200?:  Togo 200?:  Tunisia COMESA Founding states (1994):  Angola  Burundi Congo-Kinshasa  Djibouti  Eritrea  Ethiopia  Kenya  Comoros  Madagascar  Mauritius  Malawi  Rwanda  Sudan  Swaziland  Uganda  Zambia  Zimbabwe Joined later: 1999:  Egypt 2001:  Seychelles 2005:  Libya Former members: 1994-1997:  Lesotho 1994-1997:  Mozambique 1994-2000:  Tanzania 1994-2004:  Namibia ECOWAS Founding states (1975):  Benin UEMOA-94  Burkina Faso UEMOA-94  Côte d'Ivoire UEMOA-94  The Gambia  Ghana  Guinea  Guinea-Bissau UEMOA-97  Liberia  Mali UEMOA-94  Niger UEMOA-94  Nigeria  Senegal UEMOA-94  Sierra Leone  Togo UEMOA-94 Joined later: 1976:  Cape Verde Former members: 1975-2002:  Mauritania UEMOA-94: UEMOA state from 1994 UEMOA-97: UEMOA state from 1997 SADC Founding states (1980):  Angola  Botswana SACU-70  Lesotho SACU-70  Malawi  Mozambique  Swaziland SACU-70  Tanzania  Zambia  Zimbabwe Joined later: 1990:  Namibia SACU-90 1990:  South Africa SACU-70 1995:  Mauritius 1997: Congo-Kinshasa 2005:  Madagascar Applicant countries: 2000:  Uganda 2006:  Seychelles Former members: 1997-2004:  Seychelles SACU-70: SACU state from 1970 SACU-90: SACU state from 1990 ECCAS Founding states (1985):  Burundi  Cameroon CEMAC-99  Central African Republic CEMAC-99  Chad CEMAC-99 Congo-Kinshasa Congo-Brazzaville CEMAC-99  Equatorial Guinea CEMAC-99  Gabon CEMAC-99  Rwanda  São Tomé and Príncipe Joined later: 1999:  Angola CEMAC-99: CEMAC state from 1999 EAC Founding states (2001):  Kenya  Tanzania  Uganda Joined later: 2006:  Rwanda 2006:  Burundi IGAD Founding states (1986):  Djibouti  Ethiopia  Kenya  Somalia  Sudan  Uganda Joined later: 1993:  Eritrea UMA 1 Founding states (1989):  Algeria  Libya  Mauritania  Morocco  Tunisia ██ member states; year of joining██ member states; year of joining; cooperation in the framework of the bloc stalled██ candidate states; year of application 1 The Arab Maghreb Union does not participate in the AEC so far, because of opposition by Morocco REC pillars of the African Economic Community. Active REC pillars of the African Economic Community.

African Union This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the African Union Institutions of the African Union Casablanca group Union of African States Organisation for African Unity African Economic Community African Unification Front Executive Assembly Commission Chairman Conference and Events Peace & Sec. Pol. Affairs Infra. & Energy Soc. Affairs HR, Sci., & Tech. Trade and Industry Rural Econ. & Agri. Economic Legal Counsel Executive Council Rep. Committee Legislature Pan-African Parliament President Bureau Secretariat List of members Permanent Committees Rural Econ., Agri., Resources, Eviron. Monetary & Financial Trade, Customs, & Immigration Cooperation, IR, & Conflict Trans., Industry, Comm., Energy, Sci., & Tech. Health, Labour, & Social Educ., Culture, Tourism, & HR Gender, Family, Youth, Disabilities Justice & Rights Rules, Privileges, & Discipline Judiciary Sirte Declaration Constitutive Act of the AU Law Charter on Rights Court of Justice Court on Human and Peoples' Rights List of judges Advisory bodies Peace and Security Council Economic, Social, and Cultural Council Specialized Technical Committees Rural Econ., Agri. Monetary & Financial Trade, Customs, and Immigration Industry, Sci. & Tech., Energy... Transport, Comm., Tourism Health, Labor, Social Edu., Culture, & Human Resources Financial bodies AEC Pillars (Abuja Treaty) CEN-SAD COMESA EAC ECCAS/CEEAC CEMAC ECOWAS UEMOA WAMZ IGAD SADC SACU AMU/UMA African Central Bank African Monetary Fund African Investment Bank New Partnership for Africa's Development African Peer Review Mechanism Decentralised bodies Agencies of the AU AU-related topics Elections Enlargement Foreign relations Other countries • Politics Portal view •  • edit</div>

Other blocs

Other trade blocs in Africa not part of the African Economic Community.

Other African regional blocs, not participating in the AEC (their members can be part of other regional blocs which do participate), are the following.

• Agadir Agreement (includes Mediterranean states, one from Asia)
• Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries (CEPGL)
• Indian Ocean Commission (COI)
• Liptako-Gourma Authority (LGA)
• Mano River Union (MRU)

Their membership is as follows:

¹ The Agadir Agreement is the only bloc not currently stalled

Goals

The AEC founded through the Abuja Treaty, signed in 1991 and entered into force in 1994is envisioned to be created in six stages:

1. (to be completed in 1999) Creation of regional blocs in regions where such do not yet exist
2. (to be completed in 2007) Strengthening of intra-REC integration and inter-REC harmonisation
3. (to be completed in 2017) Establishing of a free trade area and customs union in each regional bloc
4. (to be completed in 2019) Establishing of a continent-wide customs union (and thus also a free trade area)
5. (to be completed in 2023) Establishing of a continent-wide African Common Market (ACM)
6. (to be completed in 2028) Establishing of a continent-wide economic and monetary union (and thus also a currency union) and Parliament

• End of all transition periods: 2034 at the latest

Stages progress

as of December 2005

• Stage 1: Completed, only UMA members and Sahrawi Republic not participating. Somalia is participating, but no practical implementation as of yet.
• Stage 2: Steady progress, nothing factual to check.
• Stage 3:

¹ Members not yet participating: Angola, DR Congo (in talks to join), Eritrea, Ethiopia, Seychelles (in talks to join), Swaziland (on derogation until SACU gives permission for Swaziland to join the FTA), Uganda (to join very soon)[1]

• Stage 4: no progress yet
• Stage 5: no progress yet
• Stage 6: no progress yet

Overall progress

¹ not all members participating yet
² telecommunications, transport and energy - proposed
³ sensitive goods to be covered from 2012

Comparison between Regional blocs

See also

• Economy of Africa
• Economy of the African Union

References

• A single African currency in our time?

External Links

• African Union Offical Website
• South African webpage on RECs
• Pan-African Perspective

Categories

Find

Find