For 24 years, the East African Community Alliance, which was established to facilitate the economic ties of East African countries, has been constantly attracting new members.
One of Ethiopia’s neighboring countries, Somalia officially requested to join this alliance a year ago.
The coalition deployed its experts to answer the question of the organization, made various evaluations, and announced that it would accept Somalia as the eighth-member country.
Headquartered in Arusha, Tanzania, the economic alliance has announced that it will officially welcome Somalia as a member at its annual meeting next week.
“Somalia will become a member of the East African Community from next week,” the alliance’s secretary general, Peter Matuki, said at an investment summit in Marrakesh, Morocco.
The Secretary-General added, “Ethiopia may be the next member country of the alliance, and It has shown interest in becoming a member.”
The secretary mentioned that the East African Community is a trading platform for 300 million people, and if Ethiopia is a member, the number of member countries will increase to nine and the trading population volume will be more than 400 million, making it an influential economic network in Africa.
Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Congo, and South Sudan are the current member countries and Somalia will become the eighth member country next week.
In general, the goal of making this alliance a trading platform for 700 million people has been set, and the main plan is to speed up the mutual trade of the member countries.
EAC will focus on the development of rail, air, sea, and road transport links that can increase trade among the member countries.
Ethiopia, which has more than 115 million population, expanded its economic network and joined BRICS last August.
Ethiopia’s economy is under pressure due to war in northern Ethiopia, COVID-19, foreign debt, and unrest in many parts of the country.
Inflation, corruption, and many other problems are making citizens’ lives in trouble. Also, the decline in remittances and foreign tourist reduction are other problems that hurt Ethiopia’s economy.
