54 AFRICAN COUNTRIES

Since the early 1990s, many countries in Africa have made significant progress in opening up their economy to external competition through trade and exchange rate liberalization, often in the context of IMF and World Bank’s support programs. At the same time, with the creation or expansion of a number of regional trading arrangement in other parts of the world, several African nations have also worked towards this, resulting in the establishment or renewal of such trading arrangement in Africa too. The continent is now home to some 30 regional trade agreements (RTAs) or trade blocs, many of which are part of deeper regional integration schemes.

While some RTAs have been revived, some other have been broadened and deepened. The major trading agreements in Africa include:

Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Angola, Burundi, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Arab Republic of Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia & Zimbabwe

Southern Africa development Community (SADC)- Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia & Zimbabwe

South Africa Customs Union (SACU)- Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa & Swaziland

West Africa Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA)-Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal & Togo

Economic Community of west Africa States (ECOWAS)- Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone & Togo

Central Africa Customs and Economic Union (UDEAC)- Cameroon, the Central Africa Republic, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea & Gabon; Economic Community of Central Africa States (ECCAS)- Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, the Central Africa Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rwanda and Sao Tome & Principe

East Africa Community (EAC)- Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda; Cross border Initiative Burundi, Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia & Zimbabwe; Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC)- Cameroon, the Central Africa Republic, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Sao Tome & Principe; Economic Community of the Countries of the Great Lakes (C E P G L ) - Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo & Rwanda

Indian Ocean Commission Comoros - Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion & Seychelles

Mano River Union (MRU) - Guinea, Liberia & Sierra Leone.

These trading arrangements are envisaged to foster trade and investment relation amongst member countries by removal of tariffs and other impediments to intra-regional trade flows. In some cases, the arrangement also aims at fostering common economic and monetary union amongst member states, as also a common currency. The success of these arrangements in fostering intra-regional trade has been diverse, with SADC, ECOWAS, COMESA, Cross Border Initiative and UEMOA being the more successful ones.