Introduction

This chapter comprehensively introduces all eight African Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs), that are slated eventually to combine to form the African Economic Community (AEC) as we saw in Chapter IV and the Southern African Customs Union and its Trade Liberalization Scheme. For each RTA, the relevant section of the chapter begins with an overview that includes its founding date, purposes and members, as well as the sequence contemplated to be followed in the integration plan. Each of these integration schemes, free market, customs market, common market, monetary union and where there is planned political union, is examined in turn. For each RTA, a section evaluating progress made in the integration agenda concludes the discussion.