Regional Economic Communities

Africa's current integration landscape contains an array of regional economic communities, including eight recognized as the building blocks of the African Union. These eight are namely: AMU, CEN-SAD, COMESA, EAC, ECCAS, ECOWAS, IGAD and SADC.

The regional economic communities are expected to serve their member States with the implementation of the regional integration agenda, where the concept of good faith and the resultant observance of treaty obligations are the basis on which member States must make regional integration decisions as well as ensuring their performance and implementation.

Member States are for either historical, political or economic reasons, generally, members of more than one regional economic community. The map indicates the various combinations of overlapping memberships to the regional economic communities in the continent.