SOMALIA yesterday officially deposited her instrument of ratification of the Treaty of Accession with the East African Community (EAC), making the horn of Africa country as the bloc's eighth partner state.
Speaking during the depositing ceremony which was held at the EAC's Headquarter in Arusha Region, the bloc's Secretary General, Dr Peter Mathuki commended Somalia for achieving the regional community's membership bid.
"We want to congratulate you, the Federal Republic of Somalia for depositing your instrument of ratification with the secretary general, as required in the treaty, which is basically the last step to say officially now you are a full member of East African Community," Dr Mathuki said.
Furthermore, he appreciated Somalia President, Mr Sheikh Hassan Mohamud for his deep cooperation and commitment, which made the dream a reality.
"We call him now a champion. He is a champion because he started this journey in 2012 and it could have possible for you to give up, but champion never give, champion make sure that they win," he said.
He described Mr Mahamud as the champion who joined other seven East African champions to put on implementation the agenda of the bloc rooted on socio-economic and political transformation.
Dr Muthuki also extended thanks to others EAC's member states' heads of state for admitting Somalia's membership application.
On what to expect, he said the EAC's team will soon visit Mogadishu to figure out areas of concern in collaboration with other players.
Highlighting the benefits of the EAC's expansion, he said the EAC so far will have about total of 350 million populations, saying it is a huge market with longest coast line.
"Somalia brings onboard about 3,200 kilometres of the coast line, that is a serious economic implication, in terms of the cost of transport for goods from East Africa to the rest of the world and from the rest of the world to East Africa," he said.
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In another development, Dr Mathuki commenting on the issue of EAC's monetary union said it is the right time among the member states to fast track the realisation of the single currency that is a critical step for highest regional integration.
Nevertheless, he annulled the circulating rumours through the social media including X (formerly twitter) claiming that EAC has introduced a single currency. For his part Ethiopia's Minister for Information, Mr Dauda Aweso said Somalia is committing on collaborating with other EAC's member states to achieve the targets of the bloc centred on prosperity of its people.
"Somalia will bring profound contribution on development of the bloc's economy," he said.
On December 15th, last year in Entebbe, Uganda, the Treaty of Accession was signed by Somalia's President Sheikh Hassan Mohamud and the Chairperson of the Summit of EAC Heads of State, Mr Salva Kiir, who is also the President of the Republic of South Sudan.
The signing ceremony was witnessed by Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni The other seven (7) partner states are the Republic of Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Rwanda, Republic of South Sudan, Republic of Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania.
The founding members of the EAC are Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda.
The community expanded to a five-member bloc after the admission of Burundi and Rwanda and later on South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) joined the EAC.
According to EAC statistics before Somalia's admission to the bloc, the community had about 300 million populations.
