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| Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, and Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi. – AP/Copyright 2022 The Associated Press |
The Democratic Republic of Congo is expected to join the East African Community on Tuesday in a bid to boost its trade, social cohesion and security.
The official ceremony will be held virtually followed by a summit to inaugurate EAC’s new member state.
Bordering five member states of the organization – Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and South Sudan – the DRC was assessed from June 25 to July 5 on its level of compliance with the organization.
Similarly, the DRC and Tanzania control almost equally almost all of Lake Tanganyika.
As early as early June 2019, Kinshasa had expressed its willingness to join the organization in a letter to Paul Kagame, then-current chair of the EAC Heads of State Summit.
Among the advantages for the DRC are the integration of the east of the country into the common telecommunications space, which will reduce costs with neighboring countries; several administrative facilities and a reduction in charges for the commercial and economic activities of Congolese citizens, as well as facilitating their mobility in the eastern countries.
Several EAC countries are among the DRC’s main African trading partners.
The DRC is also expected to benefit from reduced tariffs for goods received at the ports of Mombassa (Kenya) and Dar es Salaam (Tanzania).
In addition, in February, the EAC Heads of State Summit approved the addition of French as an official language of the community, alongside English and Swahili.
Kinshasa could also benefit from the application of the EAC’s Collective Security Pact, with the assistance of countries such as Kenya and Tanzania, in the fight against several rebels in the central African country.
