The Role of Regional Economic Communities in Enhancing Trade of Landlocked in Africa – Case of East African Community –

Abstract

This paper analyses the role of African Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in enhancing trade of landlocked countries by addressing challenges and overcoming barriers facing those countries. This paper has identified challenges and trade barriers related to the remoteness of landlocked countries with limit their access that hinder their competitiveness in the global market. The thesis also discusses how most of those problems could be addressed through regional economic communities and regional policies. The thesis analyzed intra-regional trade in East African Community based on trade interdependence indices: Intra-regional trade share, Intra-regional Trade Intensity and Introversion Index to confirm the descriptive analysis. The results of empirical analysis prove that there is intra-regional trade bias in East African Community as well as in other African Regional Economic Communities. ii From the empirical analysis, the thesis has also analyzed the trend of intra-regional as well as intra-continental trade of African Landlocked countries. Certainly, African landlocked countries are enjoying the benefits of regional economic communities through both regional policies and enhanced trade. We strongly recommend that all landlocked countries seek for cooperation with their coastal neighbors not only as their gateway to the global market, but also as their alternative market niche. However, for this integration to yield fruits, we strongly recommend that African countries change their patterns of trade so that their can enjoy economies of scale from within regional market. For landlocked countries, integration is not a choice but rather imperative. They should seek to address their problems related to remoteness through regional policies designed and implemented by Regional Economic Communities of which they are members.