Trade Blocks

At the end of November 1999, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania signed a treaty for the establishment of the East African Community (EAC). The EAC aims to create a free trade zone in East Africa and to allow freedom of movement across borders for the nationals of the three countries. By the terms of the treaty […]

The Customs and Economic Union of Central Africa, established by the Brazzaville Treaty in 1966, forms a customs union with free trade between members and a common external tariff for imports from other countries. The members of UDEAC are Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. UDEAC has signed a treaty for

ECOWAS was formed in 1975 by 15 West African states in order to promote trade co-operation and self-reliance in west Africa. Today there are 16 members of ECOWAS, namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. ECOWAS aims to create a

The Preferential Trade Area for Eastern and Southern African States (PTA) was established in 1982. The original treaty called for a gradual reduction and eventual elimination of customs duties and non-tariff barriers. The PTA moved into its next phase – the establishment of a common market with the formation of COMESA in 1995. COMESA currently

Allied to SACU is the Common Monetary Area (CMA) which links South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland into a Monetary Agreement, essentially the Southern African equivalent of the Franc Zone in West Africa. Namibia automatically became a member upon independence but withdrew with the introduction of the Namibian dollar in 1993. Namibia has chosen not to

SACU is a customs union comprising Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland (the BLNS states) and South Africa. The agreement includes, among other things, the levying of uniform customs and excise duties, free interchange of duty-paid goods imported from outside member countries, imposition of additional protective duties by BLNS states and regulation of the marketing of agricultural

Formally the Southern African Development Co-ordination Conference (SADCC). Launched in 1980 with the original objectives of reducing dependence on apartheid South Africa and creating a channel for donor aid to the region. The Declaration and Treaty establishing the current Southern African Development Community (SADC) which replaced the Co-ordination Conference was signed in August 1992. The