The African Economic Community (AEC) is an organization of African Union states establishing grounds for mutual economic development among the majority of African states. The stated goals of the organization include the creation of free trade areas, customs unions, a single market, a central bank, 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 free trade area and customs union 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 End of all transition periods: 2034 at the latest

Stages progress as of September 2007 Stage 1: Completed, only Arab Maghreb Union members and Sahrawi Republic not participating. Somalia is participating, but no practical implementation yet. Stage 2: Steady progress, nothing factual to check. Stage 3:   Regional blocs - pillars of the African Economic Community (AEC) Activity CEN-SAD COMESA EAC ECCAS ECOWAS IGAD SADC UMA CEMAC Common UEMOA WAMZ Common SACU Common Free Trade Area stalled progressing 1 fully in force fully in force proposed for 2007 ? fully in force proposed stalled fully in force progressing 2 stalled Customs Union stalled proposed for 2008 fully in force fully in force proposed for 2011 ? fully in force proposed for 2007 stalled fully in force proposed for 2010 stalled 1 Members not yet participating: DR Congo (in talks to join), Eritrea, Ethiopia, Seychelles (in talks to join), Swaziland (on derogation until SACU gives permission for Swaziland to join the FTA), Uganda (to join very soon) 2 Members not yet participating: Angola, DR Congo, Seychelles Stage 4: In March 2018, 49 African countries signed the African Continental Free Trade Agreement paving the way for a continent-wide free trade area. 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

Activities Regional bloc Free Trade Area Economic and monetary union Free Travel Political pact Defence pact Customs Union Single Market Currency Union Visa-free Border-less AEC Partially In Force proposed for 2023 proposed for 2023 proposed for 2028 proposed for 2023 proposed for 2023 proposed for 2028 proposed for 2028 CEN-SAD proposed for 2010 COMESA in force 1 proposed for 2008 ? proposed for 2018 EAC in force in force proposed for 2015 proposed for 2024 proposed for 2018 ? proposed for 2023ECCAS CEMAC in force in force ? in force Common proposed for 2007 ? proposed for 2011 ? proposed proposed proposed ? in force ECOWAS UEMOA in force in force proposedWT/COMTD/N/11 in force WAMZ ? proposed for 2012 Common proposed 2 proposed for 2007 proposedWT/COMTD/N/21 proposed in force 1 proposed proposed in force IGAD SADC SACU in force in force de facto in force 1 ? Common proposed for 2008 3 proposed for 2010 proposed for 2015 proposed for 2016 UMA 1 not all members participating yet 2 telecommunications, transport and energy - 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 blocs 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:

Pillars Subgroups Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) East African Community (EAC) Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS/CEEAC) Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Southern African Development Community (SADC) Southern African Customs Union (SACU) Common Monetary Area (CMA) Arab Maghreb Union (UMA)

Pillar membership

CEN-SAD Founding states (1998):

Joined later: 1999: 1999: 2000: 2000: 2000: 2001: 2001: 2001: 2001: 2001: 2002: 2002: 2004: 2004: 2004: 2005: 2005: 2007: 2007: 2008: 2008: 2008: 2009: COMESA Founding states (1994):

Joined later: 1999: 2001: 2005: 2018: 2018: Former members: 1994-1997: 1994-1997: 1994-2001: 1994-2004: 1994-2007: EAC Founding states (2001):

Joined later: 2007: 2007: 2016: 2022:

ECOWAS Founding states (1975): UEMOA-94 UEMOA-94 UEMOA-94 WAMZ-00 WAMZ-00 WAMZ-00 UEMOA-97 WAMZ-10 UEMOA-94 UEMOA-94 WAMZ-00 UEMOA-94 WAMZ-00 UEMOA-94 Joined later: 1977: Former members: 1975-1999:

ECCAS Founding states (1985):

CEMAC-99 CEMAC-99 CEMAC-99 CEMAC-99

CEMAC-99 CEMAC-99 withdrawn 2007-2016

Joined later: 1999: CEMAC-99: CEMAC state from 1999 IGAD Founding states (1986):

Joined later: 1993: 2011:

UMA1 Founding states (1989):

SADC Founding states (1980):

SACU-70 SACU-70

SACU-70

Joined later: 1990: SACU-90 1990: SACU-70 1995: 1997: 1997: withdrawn 2004-2007 2005:

1 The UMA (Arab Maghreb Union) does not participate in the AEC so far, because of opposition by Morocco

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 Eastern states, including those outside Africa) Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries (CEPGL) Indian Ocean Commission (COI) Liptako–Gourma Authority (LGA) Mano River Union (MRU)

Their membership is as follows:

GAFTA 1 CEPGL COI LGA MRU 2005 membership:

Joined later: 2009: 1976 membership:

1984 membership:

1970 membership:

1973 membership:

Joined later: 1980: 2008:

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 (SADC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (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

See also African Economic Outlook Economy of Africa Economy of the African Union CARICOM Single Market and Economy

References

Sources A single African currency in our time? African leaders agree to form single market African Union Official Website South African webpage on RECs Pan-African Perspective