East African Community (EAC)

P.O. Box 1096, Tanzania

Phone : + 255 272504253 / Fax : + 255 272504255

Web site : www.eac.int/

The Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community was signed in Arusha on 30 November 1999 and entered into force on 7 July 2000. The EAC is one of Regional Economic Communities (RECs). These are regional groupings of African states organized into a legal entity by treaty, with economic and social integration as their main objective. The African Union currently recognizes eight RECs, each of which plays a key role in African integration.

The EAC aims at widening and deepening co-operation among the Partner States in, among others, political, economic and social fields for their mutual benefit. To this extent the EAC countries established a Customs Union in 2005 and are working towards the establishment of a Common Market by 2010, subsequently a Monetary Union by 2012 and ultimately a Political Federation of the East African States.

The Member States are: the Republic of Burundi; the Republic of Kenya; the Republic of Rwanda; the United Republic of Tanzania; the Republic of Uganda.