Africa has long demonstrated a great need for cooperation between its States. Politicians and intellectuals have become aware of the needs and benefits of regional integration. Their ambitions have given rise to a multiplicity of regional agreements. It is in this context that the Abuja Treaty establishing the African Economic Community (AEC) was adopted on June 3, 1991, by the Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), which became the African Union (AU), on July 9, 2002 in Durban (South Africa)

The Abuja Treaty is based on the use of Regional Economic Communities (RECs), which are regional groupings of African countries, as “milestones” for the creation of a large single trading bloc.

Considered as the pillars of the ECA, eight (8) RECs have been selected by the African Union as economic communities contributing primarily to regional integration in Africa. These are:

Community of Sahelo-Saharan States (CEN-SAD), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC), Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Southern African Development Community (SADC), Arab Maghreb Union (UMA)