DR Congo officially admitted to the East African Community

Engagement Assistant

Mwananchi Communications Ltd

What you need to know:

The Democratic Republic of Congo becomes the regional bloc's seventh member.

The summit to admit the DRC was attended by President Samia Suluhu Hasan (Tanzania), President Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), , Paul Kagame (Rwanda), Vice President Prosper Bagombanza (Burundi), Minister in the Office of the President Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin (South Sudan), and the DRC President Felix Tshisekedi.
Its admission will more than double the EAC’s land size to 4.7 million square kilometres from the current 2.4 million square kilometres.
Its population will rise to 275 million from 183 million, which is the current total population of the existing six partner states.
This will make EAC one of the largest trading blocs in Africa, opening a corridor from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic coast. While the EAC has a combined nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of $220 billion, the DRC’s GDP is $46 billion.

DR Congo officially admitted to the East African Community

What you need to know:

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