DR Congo joins regional East Africa bloc
'Admission of the DRC marks a momentous occasion in the region's integration history'
On Tuesday the Democratic Republic of Congo was admitted into the regional East African Community (EAC), a bloc with a single market allowing free trade and movement of citizens, the group said.
The EAC, based in the Tanzanian town of Arusha, now expands to seven nations, counting Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Sudan, and Uganda among its members.
EAC chairman Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta announced DR Congo's membership, describing it as "momentous."
"Admission of the DRC marks a momentous occasion in the region's integration history," Kenyatta told a virtual summit.
"The EAC now spans from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, making the region competitive and easy to access the larger African Continental Free Trade Area," the group's secretary-general Peter Mathuki said.
The bloc was founded in 2000 and works to encourage trade by removing customs duties between member states. It established a common market in 2010.
Mineral-rich DR Congo's population of 90 million people will expand the EAC market to almost 300 million.
Already a member of three other regional blocs, the country shares borders with all EAC members except Kenya.
The last country to be admitted to the EAC was conflict-wracked South Sudan in March 2016.