The African Economic Community (AEC) is an organization of African Union states establishing grounds for mutual economic development among the majority of African states. The stated goals of the organization include the creation of free trade areas, customs unions, a single market, a central bank, and a common currency (see African Monetary Union) thus establishing an economic and monetary union.

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Currently there are multiple regional blocs in Africa, also known as Regional Economic Communities (RECs), many of which have overlapping memberships. The RECs consist primarily of trade blocs and, in some cases, some political and military cooperation. Most of these RECs form the "pillars" of AEC, many of which also have an overlap in some of their member states. Due to this high proportion of overlap it is likely that some states with several memberships will eventually drop out of one or more RECs. Several of these pillars also contain subgroups with tighter customs and/or monetary unions of their own:

These pillars and their corresponding subgroups are as follows:

Pillar membership

  member states; year of joining

  member states; year of joining; cooperation in the framework of the bloc stalled

  candidate states; year of application

More information CEN-SAD, COMESA ...

CEN-SAD Founding states (1998):  Burkina Faso  Chad  Libya  Mali  Niger  Sudan Joined later: 1999:  Central African Republic 1999:  Eritrea 2000:  Djibouti 2000:  Gambia 2000:  Senegal 2001:  Egypt 2001:  Morocco 2001:  Nigeria 2001:  Somalia 2001:  Tunisia 2002:  Benin 2002:  Togo 2004:  Ivory Coast 2004:  Guinea-Bissau 2004:  Liberia 2005:  Ghana 2005:  Sierra Leone 2007:  Comoros 2007:  Guinea 2008:  Kenya 2008:  Mauritania 2008:  São Tomé and Príncipe 2009:  Cape Verde

COMESA Founding states (1994):  Burundi  Comoros  Democratic Republic of the Congo  Djibouti  Eritrea  Ethiopia  Kenya  Madagascar  Malawi  Mauritius  Rwanda  Sudan  Eswatini  Uganda  Zambia  Zimbabwe Joined later: 1999:  Egypt 2001:  Seychelles 2005:  Libya 2018:  Tunisia 2018:  Somalia Former members: 1994-1997:  Lesotho 1994-1997:  Mozambique 1994-2001:  Tanzania 1994-2004:  Namibia 1994-2007:  Angola[1][2]

EAC Founding states (2001):  Kenya  Tanzania  Uganda Joined later: 2007:  Burundi 2007:  Rwanda 2016:  South Sudan 2022:  Democratic Republic of the Congo ECOWAS Founding states (1975):  Benin UEMOA-94  Burkina Faso UEMOA-94  Ivory Coast UEMOA-94  Gambia WAMZ-00  Ghana WAMZ-00  Guinea WAMZ-00  Guinea-Bissau UEMOA-97  Liberia WAMZ-10  Mali UEMOA-94  Niger UEMOA-94  Nigeria WAMZ-00  Senegal UEMOA-94  Sierra Leone WAMZ-00  Togo UEMOA-94 Joined later: 1977:  Cape Verde Former members: 1975-1999:  Mauritania UEMOA-94: UEMOA state from 1994 UEMOA-97: UEMOA state from 1997 WAMZ-00: WAMZ state from 2000 WAMZ-10: WAMZ state from 2010

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More information ECCAS, IGAD ...

ECCAS Founding states (1985):  Burundi  Cameroon CEMAC-99  Central African Republic CEMAC-99  Chad CEMAC-99  Congo CEMAC-99  DR Congo  Equatorial Guinea CEMAC-99  Gabon CEMAC-99  Rwanda withdrawn 2007[1]-2016[3]  São Tomé and Príncipe Joined later: 1999:  Angola CEMAC-99: CEMAC state from 1999

IGAD Founding states (1986):  Djibouti  Ethiopia  Kenya  Somalia  Sudan  Uganda Joined later: 1993:  Eritrea 2011:  South Sudan UMA1 Founding states (1989):  Algeria  Libya  Mauritania  Morocco  Tunisia

SADC Founding states (1980):  Angola  Botswana SACU-70  Lesotho SACU-70  Malawi  Mozambique  Eswatini SACU-70  Tanzania  Zambia  Zimbabwe Joined later: 1990:  Namibia SACU-90 1990:  South Africa SACU-70 1995:  Mauritius 1997:  DR Congo 1997:  Seychelles withdrawn 2004-2007 2005:  Madagascar SACU-70: SACU state from 1970 SACU-90: SACU state from 1990

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¹ The UMA (Arab Maghreb Union) does not participate in the AEC so far, because of opposition by Morocco

Overlaps illustrated

Other blocs

Other African regional blocs, not participating in the AEC framework (many of them predating AEC) are:

• Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA) (an organization of most Middle Eastern states, including those outside Africa)
• Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries (CEPGL)
• Indian Ocean Commission (COI)
• Liptako–Gourma Authority (LGA)
• Mano River Union (MRU)

Their membership is as follows:

More information GAFTA 1, CEPGL ...

GAFTA 1	CEPGL	COI	LGA	MRU
2005 membership:  Egypt  Libya  Morocco  Sudan  Tunisia Joined later: 2009: Algeria	1976 membership:  Burundi  DR Congo  Rwanda	1984 membership:  Comoros  Madagascar  Mauritius  Seychelles	1970 membership:  Burkina Faso  Mali  Niger	1973 membership:  Liberia  Sierra Leone Joined later: 1980:  Guinea 2008:  Ivory Coast

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¹ Only African GAFTA members are listed.
GAFTA and MRU are the only blocs not currently stalled.

The AEC founded through the Abuja Treaty, signed in 1991 and entered into force in 1994 is envisioned to be created in six stages:

1. (completed in 1999) Creation of regional blocs in regions where such do not yet exist
2. (completed in 2007) Strengthening of intra-REC integration and inter-REC harmonisation
3. (completed in 2021) Establishing of a free trade area and customs union in each regional bloc
4. (to be completed in 2023) Establishing of a continent-wide customs union (and thus also a free trade area)
5. (to be completed in 2025) Establishing of a continent-wide African Common Market (ACM)
6. (to be completed in 2028) Establishing of a continent-wide economic and monetary union (and thus also a currency union) and Parliament

• End of all transition periods: 2034 at the latest

Parts of this article (those related to pre-2017 deadlines) need to be updated. (January 2017)

The African Free Trade Zone (AFTZ) was announced on Wednesday October 22, 2008 by the heads of Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the East African Community (EAC).

In May 2012 the idea was extended to also include ECOWAS, ECCAS and AMU.^[9]

• African Economic Outlook
• Economy of Africa
• Economy of the African Union