East Africa Bloc Becomes $250 Billion Market as Congo Joins

  • Mineral-rich nation seventh member of $193.7 billion bloc
  • Congo will link East African coastline to Atlantic Ocean

A worker loads sacks of cobalt at the Etoile mine in Katanga province near Lubumbashi, the Democratic Republic of Congo. The country is the world’s largest source of cobalt.

Photographer: Lucien Kahozi/Bloomberg
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The Democratic Republic of Congo joined the East African Community, bringing the regional trading bloc’s market size to a quarter of the continent’s population and providing it with access to the Atlantic Ocean.