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members of AEC pillar blocs      states signatories to the AEC Treaty, but not participating in any of the pillars The African Economic Community (abbreviated AEC) is an organization of African Union states establishing grounds for mutual economic development. The member states are mounting efforts to collaborate economically, but are impeded by civil wars raging in parts of Africa. 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 thus establishing an economic and monetary union. Contents 1 Pillars of the African Economic Community 1.1 Pillar membership 1.2 Other blocs 2 Goals 2.1 Stages progress 2.2 Overall progress 3 Comparison between Regional blocs 4 See also 5 References 6 External Links Currently there are multiple Regional blocs in Africa, also known as Regional Economic Communities (abbreviated 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) Arab Maghreb Union (AMU/UMA) CEN-SAD Founding states (1998):  Libya  Burkina Faso  Mali  Niger  Chad  Sudan Joined later: 1999:  Central African Republic 1999:  Eritrea 2000:  Djibouti 2000:  Gambia 2000:  Senegal 200?:  Benin 200?:  Côte d'Ivoire 200?:  Egypt 200?:  Ghana 200?:  Guinea-Bissau 200?:  Liberia 200?:  Morocco 200?:  Nigeria 200?:  Sierra Leone 200?:  Somalia 200?:  Togo 200?:  Tunisia COMESA Founding states (1994):  Angola  Burundi  Congo-Kinshasa  Djibouti  Eritrea  Ethiopia  Kenya  Comoros  Madagascar  Mauritius  Malawi  Rwanda  Sudan  Swaziland  Uganda  Zambia  Zimbabwe Joined later: 1999:  Egypt 2001:  Seychelles 2006:  Libya Former members: 1994-1997:  Lesotho 1994-1997:  Mozambique 1994-2000:  Tanzania 1994-2004:  Namibia ECOWAS Founding states (1975):  Benin UEMOA-94  Burkina Faso UEMOA-94  Côte d'Ivoire UEMOA-94  Gambia WAMZ-00  Ghana WAMZ-00  Guinea WAMZ-00  Guinea-Bissau UEMOA-97  Liberia  Mali UEMOA-94  Niger UEMOA-94  Nigeria WAMZ-00  Senegal UEMOA-94  Sierra Leone WAMZ-00  Togo UEMOA-94 Joined later: 1976:  Cape Verde Former members: 1975-2002:  Mauritania UEMOA-94: UEMOA state from 1994 UEMOA-97: UEMOA state from 1997 WAMZ-00: WAMZ state from 2000 SADC Founding states (1980):  Angola  Botswana SACU-70  Lesotho SACU-70  Malawi  Mozambique  Swaziland SACU-70  Tanzania  Zambia  Zimbabwe Joined later: 1990:  Namibia SACU-90 1990:  South Africa SACU-70 1995:  Mauritius 1997:  Congo-Kinshasa 2005:  Madagascar Applicant countries: 2000:  Rwanda 2006:  Seychelles Former members: 1997-2004:  Seychelles SACU-70: SACU state from 1970 SACU-90: SACU state from 1990 ECCAS Founding states (1985):  Burundi  Cameroon CEMAC-99  Central African Republic CEMAC-99  Chad CEMAC-99  Congo-Kinshasa  Congo-Brazzaville CEMAC-99  Equatorial Guinea CEMAC-99  Gabon CEMAC-99  Rwanda  São Tomé and Príncipe Joined later: 1999:  Angola CEMAC-99: CEMAC state from 1999 EAC Founding states (2001):  Kenya  Tanzania  Uganda Joined later: 2007:  Rwanda 2007:  Burundi IGAD Founding states (1986):  Djibouti  Ethiopia  Kenya  Somalia  Sudan  Uganda Joined later: 1993:  Eritrea UMA 1 Founding states (1989):  Algeria  Libya  Mauritania  Morocco  Tunisia      member states; year of joining      member states; year of joining; cooperation in the framework of the bloc stalled      candidate states; year of application 1 The Arab Maghreb Union does not participate in the AEC so far, because of opposition by Morocco REC pillars of the African Economic Community. Active REC pillars of the African Economic Community.

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Other African regional blocs, not participating in the AEC (their members can be part of other regional blocs which do participate), are the following.

• Agadir Agreement (includes Mediterranean states, one from Asia)
• 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:

Agadir 1	CEPGL	COI	LGA	MRU
2004 membership:  Egypt  Morocco  Tunisia  Jordan	1976 membership:  Burundi  Congo-Kinshasa  Rwanda	1984 membership:  Comoros  Madagascar  Mauritius  Seychelles	1970 membership:  Burkina Faso  Mali  Niger	1973 membership:  Liberia  Sierra Leone Joined later: 1980:  Guinea

¹ The Agadir Agreement is the only bloc not currently stalled

The AEC founded through the Abuja Treaty, signed in 1991 and entered into force in 1994 is envisioned to be created in six stages:

1. (to be completed in 1999) Creation of regional blocs in regions where such do not yet exist
2. (to be completed in 2007) Strengthening of intra-REC integration and inter-REC harmonisation
3. (to be completed in 2017) Establishing of a free trade area and customs union in each regional bloc
4. (to be completed in 2019) Establishing of a continent-wide customs union (and thus also a free trade area)
5. (to be completed in 2023) Establishing of a continent-wide African Common Market (ACM)
6. (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

as of December 2005

• Stage 1: Completed, only UMA members and Sahrawi Republic not participating. Somalia is participating, but no practical implementation as of yet.
• Stage 2: Steady progress, nothing factual to check.
• Stage 3:

	Regional blocs - pillars of the African Economic Community (AEC)										Other blocs
Activity	CEN-SAD	COMESA	EAC	ECOWAS		ECCAS		IGAD	SADC		Agadir	UMA
				UEMOA	Common	CEMAC	Common		SACU	Common
Free Trade Area	stalled	progressing 1	fully in force	fully in force	proposed	fully in force	proposed for 2007 ?	stalled	fully in force	proposed for 2008	fully in force	stalled
Customs Union	stalled	proposed for 2008	fully in force	fully in force	proposed for 2007	fully in force	proposed for 2011 ?	stalled	fully in force	proposed for 2010		stalled

¹ Members not yet participating: Angola, 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)[1]

• Stage 4: no progress yet
• Stage 5: no progress yet
• Stage 6: no progress yet

		Activities
Regional bloc		Free Trade Area	Customs Union	Economic and monetary union		Free Travel		Political pact	Defence pact
				Single Market	Currency Union	Visa-free	Border-less
AEC		proposed for 2019	proposed for 2019	proposed for 2023	proposed for 2028			proposed for 2028	?
CEN-SAD		proposed for 2010
COMESA		in force 1	proposed for 2008	?	proposed for 2025
EAC		in force	in force	proposed for 2009	proposed for 2009	proposed	?	proposed for 2010
ECCAS	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	?	in force
	Common	proposed 2	proposed for 2007	?	proposed for 2009 1 and proposed common	in force 1	proposed	proposed	in force
IGAD
SADC	SACU	in force	in force		de-facto in force 1	?
	Common[2]	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

African Economic Community Pillars regional blocs (REC) Area (km²) Population GDP (PPP) ($US) Member states in millions per capita AEC 29,910,442 853,520,010 2,053,706 2,406 53 ECOWAS 5,112,903 251,646,263 342,519 1,361 15 ECCAS 6,667,421 121,245,958 175,928 1,451 11 SADC 9,882,959 233,944,179 737,335 3,152 14 EAC 1,763,777 97,865,428 104,239 1,065 3 COMESA 12,873,957 406,102,471 735,599 1,811 20 IGAD 5,233,604 187,969,775 225,049 1,197 7 Western Sahara 3 266,000 273,008  ?  ? N/A 4 Other African blocs Area (km²) Population GDP (PPP) ($US) Member states in millions per capita CEMAC 1 3,020,142 34,970,529 85,136 2,435 6 SACU 1 2,693,418 51,055,878 541,433 10,605 5 UEMOA 1 3,505,375 80,865,222 101,640 1,257 8 UMA 2 5,782,140 84,185,073 491,276 5,836 5 Agadir 1,703,910 126,066,286 513,674 4,075 4 1 Economic bloc inside a pillar REC 2 Proposed for pillar REC, but objecting participation 3 The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) is a signatory to the AEC, but not participating in any bloc yet 4 Majority under military occupation by Morocco; some territory administered by the SADR      smallest value among the blocs compared      largest value among the blocs compared During 2004. Source: CIA World Factbook 2005, IMF WEO Database This box: view • talk • edit

Most active regional blocs Regional bloc 1 Area (km²) Population GDP (PPP) ($US) Member states 1 in millions per capita EU 4,325,675 496,198,605 12,025,415 24,235 27 SAARC 5,136,740 1,467,255,669 4,074,031 2,777 8 CSN 17,339,153 370,158,470 2,868,430 7,749 10 ASEAN 4,400,000 553,900,000 2,172,000 4,044 10 NAFTA 21,588,638 430,495,039 15,279,000 35,491 3 EurAsEC 20,789,100 208,067,618 1,689,137 8,118 6 ECOWAS 5,112,903 251,646,263 342,519 1,361 15 SACU 2,693,418 51,055,878 541,433 10,605 5 GCC 2,285,844 35,869,438 536,223 14,949 6 COMESA 3,779,427 118,950,321 141,962 1,193 5 Agadir 1,703,910 126,066,286 513,674 4,075 4 CEMAC 3,020,142 34,970,529 85,136 2,435 6 CARICOM 462,344 14,565,083 64,219 4,409 14+1 3 EAC 1,763,777 97,865,428 104,239 1,065 3 CACM 422,614 37,816,598 159,536 4,219 5 PARTA 528,151 7,810,905 23,074 2,954 12+2 3 EFTA 529,600 12,233,467 471,547 38,546 4 Reference blocs and countries 2 Area (km²) Population GDP (PPP) ($US) Political divisions in millions per capita UN 133,178,011 6,411,682,270 55,167,630 8,604 192 Germany 357,050 82,438,000 2,585,000 31,400 16 Japan 377,873 128,085,000 4,220,000 33,100 47 Canada 9,984,670 32,507,874 1,165,000 35,200 13 Indonesia 1,904,569 234,300,000 935,000 4,000 33 Brazil 8,514,877 187,560,000 1,616,000 8,600 27 Russia 17,075,200 143,782,338 1,723,000 12,100 89 India 3,287,590 1,102,600,000 4,042,000 3,700 35 China (PRC) 4 9,596,960 1,306,847,624 10,000,000 7,600 33 USA 9,631,418 300,000,000 12,980,000 43,500 50 1 Including data only for full and most active members 2 The first five states in the World by area, population and GDP (PPP) 3 Including non-sovereign autonomous entities of other states 4 Data for the People's Republic of China does not include Hong Kong, Macau and regions administered by the Republic of China (Taiwan).      smallest value among the blocs compared      largest value among the blocs compared During 2004. Source: CIA World Factbook 2005, IMF WEO Database This box: view • talk • edit

• Economy of Africa
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