Congo now wants a share of the East African Community EAC pie!

East African Community, Last year in June 2019, Congo (DRC) applied for admission to join the East African Community (EAC).   With a population of approximately 81 million people, Congo holds almost half of the population of the EAC member states and thus it presents a huge market. However, despite the country sharing its borders with five of EAC partner states South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania, EAC’s trade with the DRC is significantly low. In fact, the combined exports of all the East African Community partner states into the DRC, does not match that of South-Africa to the Congo.  According to trade data, most of the imports from the DRC are sourced from China (31.2%), South Africa (15.8%), Zambia (13%), Belgium (5.4%) and India (5.3%).  A report by the East African Business Council (EABC) in collaboration with GIZ Creating Perspectives Project dubbed, “The opportunities for trade in the Democratic Republic of Congo reveals that the value of goods imported in the DRC in 2019, stood at US$ 6.6 billion.  East African Community exports to the DRC in 2018 stood at US$855.4 million, representing 11.5% of total DRC imports with Rwanda’s exports to the country standing at $337.4 million, Uganda $204.3 million, Kenya $149.8 million, Tanzania $144.9 million and Burundi at $18.9 million. The study reveals China