The African Economic Community (AEC) is an organization of

African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the African Union. The b ...

states establishing grounds for mutual economic development among the majority of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

n states. The stated goals of the organization include the creation of

free trade area A free trade area is the region encompassing a trade bloc whose member countries have signed a free trade agreement (FTA). Such agreements involve cooperation between at least two countries to reduce trade barriers, import quotas and tariffs, and ...

customs union A customs union is generally defined as a type of trade bloc which is composed of a free trade area with a common external tariff.GATTArticle 24 s. 8 (a) Customs unions are established through trade pacts where the participant countries set u ...

s, a single market, a

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...

, and a common currency (see African Monetary Union) thus establishing an economic and monetary union.

Goals

The AEC founded through the Abuja Treaty, signed in 1991 and entered into force in 1994 is envisioned to be created in six stages: # (completed in 1999) Creation of regional blocs in regions where such do not yet exist # (completed in 2007) Strengthening of intra-REC integration and inter-REC harmonisation # (completed in 2021) Establishing of a

and

in each regional bloc # (to be completed in 2023) Establishing of a continent-wide customs union (and thus also a free trade area) # (to be completed in 2025) Establishing of a continent-wide African Common Market (ACM) # (to be completed in 2028) Establishing of a continent-wide economic and monetary union (and thus also a currency union) and

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

:* End of all transition periods: 2034 at the latest

Stages progress

''as of September 2007'' * Stage 1: Completed, only

Arab Maghreb Union The Arab Maghreb Union ( '; AMU/UMA) is a political union and economic union trade agreement aiming for economic and future political unity among Arab countries that are located primarily in the Maghreb in North Africa. Its members are the natio ...

members and Sahrawi Republic not participating.

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

is participating, but no practical implementation yet. * Stage 2: Steady progress, nothing factual to check. * Stage 3: ¹ Members not yet participating:

DR Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

(in talks to join),

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (; Seychellois Creole: ), is an island country and archipelagic state consisting of 155 islands (as per the Constitution) in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, Victoria, ...

(in talks to join),

Swaziland Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where ...

(on derogation until SACU gives permission for Swaziland to join the FTA),

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

(to join very soo

br> ² Members not yet participating:

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

br>
br> * Stage 4: In March 2018, 49 African countries signed the African Continental Free Trade Agreement paving the way for a continent-wide

. The continental free trade area became operational in July 2019, after 22 ratifications. As of 2021, 34 signatories have effectively become parties of the treaty. * Stage 5: no progress yet * Stage 6: no progress yet

Overall progress

¹ not all members participating yet
²

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

transport Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

and

energy Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...

- proposed
³ sensitive goods to be covered from 2012

Pillars

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 bloc 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-alo ...

s 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:

Pillar membership

¹ The UMA (

) does not participate in the AEC so far, because of opposition by

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

Interlocking relationships

Venn diagrams illustrating interlocking relationship overlaps:

Other blocs

Other African regional blocs, not participating in the AEC framework (many of them predating AEC) are: * Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA) (an organization of most

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

ern states, including those outside Africa) * Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries (CEPGL) *

Indian Ocean Commission The Indian Ocean Commission (, COI) is an intergovernmental organisation that links African Indian Ocean nations: Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion (an overseas region of France), and Seychelles. There are also seven observers: China, th ...

(COI) * Liptako–Gourma Authority (LGA) * Mano River Union (MRU) Their membership is as follows: ¹ Only African GAFTA members are listed.
GAFTA and MRU are the only blocs not currently stalled.

African Free Trade Zone

The African Free Trade Zone (AFTZ) was announced on Wednesday October 22, 2008 by the heads of

Southern African Development Community The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is an inter-governmental organization headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana. Goals The SADC's goal is to further regional socio-economic cooperation and integration as well as political and se ...

(SADC), the

Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is a regional economic community in Africa with twenty-one member states stretching from Tunisia to Eswatini. COMESA was formed in December 1994, replacing a Preferential Trade Area whi ...

(COMESA) and the East African Community (EAC). In May 2012 the idea was extended to also include ECOWAS, ECCAS and AMU.Africa free trade zone in operation by 2018
/ref>

References

Sources

A single African currency in our time?African leaders agree to form single marketAfrican Union Official Website
{{Authority control African Union Economy of the African Union Regional Economic Communities of the African Union Special economic zones Trade blocs 1991 in economic history Establishments in Africa