which regional trade bloc includes kenya, uganda, and tanzania?
(Image source: klndonnelly/Flickr) Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi said Thursday that his country was seeking to join the East African Community, a regional political and economic bloc. Burundi and Rwanda became members in … A trade bloc is a type of intergovernmental agreement, often part of a regional intergovernmental organization, where barriers to trade (tariffs and others) are reduced or eliminated among the participating states.. Trade blocs can be stand-alone agreements between several states (such as the North American Free Trade Agreement) or part of a regional organization (such as the European Union). The new trade bloc aims to work towards economic policies that are pro-market, pro-private sector and pro-liberalisation. The AEC’s member states include Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Can the threats to the East African Community (EAC) trade bloc, including accusations of ‘trade wars’ and border closures between Rwanda and Uganda, be turned into strengths through mediation by countries such as Kenya? 2019-05-27. As the 38 th meeting of the East African Community (EAC) Council of Ministers got underway at the EAC headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania in early May, questions were asked about the current threats to the trade bloc, including accusations of ‘trade wars’ and border closures between Rwanda and Uganda. Once upon a time, the East African Community (EAC), a six-member regional bloc of Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda and South Sudan – admitted in 2016 – was both vibrant and buoyant. Intra-EAC trading fell from $5.8 billion in 2013 to $5.6 billion in 2014. Though details of the agreement are scanty, it comes as most African countries have signed the African Continental Free Trade Agreement in March, 2018 to facilitate better trading between regional blocs on the continent. Figure 1: Africa's Regional Trading Blocs. Burundi and Rwanda became members in 2007, while South Sudan joined in 2016. ... Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda are all members; The Southern African Development Community (SADC), established in 1992 and with 15 Member States among which is Tanzania - the only EAC state that also belongs to the Southern African bloc with a population of 277 million; Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Landlocked Uganda and Kenya have discovered oil, while Tanzania has vast natural gas reserves, which require improved infrastructure and foreign investment so they can be exploited. Landlocked Uganda and Kenya have discovered oil, while Tanzania has vast natural gas reserves, which require improved infrastructure and foreign investment so they can be exploited. EAC members (Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania) have a common market for labor, capital, and goods, but they lack a monetary union. Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Burundi are all members of COMESA. Kenya has launched a $13.8 billion Chinese-built railway, part of regional plans that also include building new ports and railways. A legal wrangle in East Africa highlights how tricky it is to form a regional trade bloc when individual countries have their own economic stresses BL PREMIUM 17 December 2020 - 05:00 Tanzania has however signed the agreement. Regional Trade Posted in Customs. Kenya has set the stage for a war with its main trading partners after it banned importation of maize from Uganda and Tanzania. Directory of sites Login Contact Support. Africa's largest bloc, the Community of Sahel–Saharan States (Cen-Sad), which draws membership from 27 countries in the northern part of the continent including Kenya and Somalia, is ranked worst. The region has increased both inter- and intra-regional trade, and has also witnessed an increase in intra-EAC Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) as well as in FDI from outside. In 2018, Ugandan milk exports to Kenya were worth $80m. The member states in the regional block are all from the eastern part of the continent and include Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, South Sudan, and Burundi. The Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) said on Friday that surveillance and tests they had done on maize from the two countries had shown that most of it was infected with aflatoxin.