Somalia is officially the 8th partner state of the East African Community (EAC).
This is after the Horn of Africa nation on Monday, March 4 deposited her Instrument of Ratification with EAC’s Secretary General at the bloc’s headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
A high-level delegation led by Somalia’s Minister of Commerce and Industry, Jibril Abdirashid Haji Abdi, was in Arusha to deposit the instrument.
This exercise was preceded by the signing of the Treaty of Accession by Somalia’s President Sheikh Hassan Mohamud and the Chairperson of the Summit of EAC Heads of State, South Sudan’s Salva Kiir Mayardit in Entebbe, Uganda on 15th December, 2023.
EAC Secretary General Peter Mathuki will subsequently deposit the Treaty of Accession with the African Union and the United Nations expressing the new members commitment to be bound by the Treaty [Article 153(2) of the Treaty].
The entry of Somalia, a country of 17 million population, will further boost EAC market to more than 300 million people.
Somalia now joins Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda in the regional bloc.
