The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will officially be admitted to the East African Community (EAC) on March 29, EAC Secretary-General Dr Peter Mathuki confirmed on Monday.
Dr Mathuki, spoke at an event in Nairobi marking the 22nd year since the founding of the Regional Centre on Small Arms. The DRC is a signatory to the Nairobi declaration on the problem of small arms and light weapons.
DRC began the process of joining the EAC in 2019 when it applied, seeking to expand and strengthen its trade relations with EAC member countries. Its past relations have been on a bilateral level.
The Council of Ministers of the EAC, the bloc’s highest decision-making organ, approved DRC’s entry last month after a series of negotiations.
But the approval had not been officially announced.
DRC’s large population of consumers will bring on board a big market for the EAC.
In a recent statement, the DRC’s deputy prime minister and minister for foreign affairs, Christophe Lutundula Apala Pen’Apala, said her country was in dire need of investors and is offering incentives for entrepreneurs who would like to invest there.
She added that DRC was keen to tackle security challenges in the eastern part of the country together with the EAC. BY DAILY NATION