Negotiations on admission of Somalia into EAC to start on next Tuesday

Dar es salaam, Tanzania | Xinhua | Negotiations between the East African Community (EAC) and the Federal Republic of Somalia on the admission of the country into the EAC will start on Tuesday next week in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

A statement issued on Saturday by the EAC headquarters in Tanzania’s northern city of Arusha invited the media for the opening session of the negotiations at the Kenya School of Government in Lower Kabete.

In February 2023, the 43rd ordinary meeting of the EAC Council of Ministers met in Burundi to review a report of the verification mission on the admission of Somalia into the regional bloc.

The EAC said in a statement the verification mission compiled its report after it visited Somalia from Jan. 25 to Feb. 3.

The admission of Somalia into the EAC will bring the total number of the bloc’s member states to eight.

The EAC now groups Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda.