The Federal Republic of Somalia is currently on the verge of joining the East Africa Community (EAC) as the 8th member of the regional bloc.
Reports indicate that Somalia will formally join EAC on Friday, November 24, after an agreement was reached between member states to allow its entry.
Somalia will join Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and South Sudan as EAC member states.
Earlier this month, EAC Secretary-General Peter Mathuki said Somalia could become a new member of the bloc before the end of the month.
He said a regional summit consisting of presidents from the EAC would meet between November 23 and 24 to endorse Somalia’s entry to the EAC.
Already Kenya's President William Ruto flew out to Tanzania for the summit, departing Kenya less than two days after touring Germany.
On August 22, this year, negotiations between the EAC and the Federal Republic of Somalia for the entry of Somalia into the EAC kicked off in Nairobi. The meeting was attended by a delegation from EAC, including Kenya's Trade Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Miano and the EAC Secretary General.
The nine-day negotiations brought together experts from the seven EAC Partner States, the EAC Secretariat, the East African Legislative Assembly, and East African Court of Justice, and representatives from Somalia.
Mathuki, who spoke during the meeting, said Somalia's move to join the community would enable it to benefit from the EAC's regional infrastructure projects, such as roads, railways, and energy networks.
“Somalia has the longest national coastline of over 3,000km in Africa, linking Africa to the Arabian Peninsula, which the region can tap into to increase intra-regional trade and improve the lives of East Africans,” Mathuki said.
Rebecca Miano, who also spoke in the meeting, added that negotiations between the EAC and Somalia were being held in accordance with a directive by the 22nd Extraordinary Summit to the Secretariat and the Council to commence negotiations with Somalia.
"The negotiations are expected to focus on, among others, the following clusters: Political, Legal, and Institutional; Infrastructure, Productive and Social Sectors; and Economic and Trade Affairs," Miano stated.
Somalia’s Minister for Planning, Hon. Mohamud Abdirahman Sheikh Farah, who represented his country, lauded the move as an excellent opportunity to take the integration process in East Africa to a new level, adding that his country was eager to join its neighbours in Africa’s fastest integrating bloc.
Ethiopia is said to have also expressed interest in joining EAC, however, talks around the same are yet to begin.
