Five East African countries Burundi,Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda have made solid progresson integrating regionally in the East African Community(EAC) since 1999. Such advances are crucial, as integrationin East Africa has the potential for higher than usualbenefits: Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda are landlocked, withvery high costs to their economies. Successful integrationwill transform the five countries into one coastal, regionaleconomy, slashing such costs. Looking at the East Africanintegration through the lens of economic geography helps toimprove sequencing of the integration process and to developnew policies to complement ongoing efforts, maximizing theirbenefits. Reducing disparities in provision of socialservices will increase the chances of workers from theinland parts of the EAC to find jobs, especially asadministrative obstacles to labor mobility are being removedunder the Common Market Protocol. Implementing and deepeningthe current program of regional infrastructure improvementswill ensure that consumers and producers throughout theregion are better connected to each other and to globalmarkets. Integration policies facilitating greater economicactivity in the coastal areas will help the EAC takeadvantage of the global demand for manufactured goods andthus to promote employment. That will also generatesubstantial demand for services and agricultural goodsproduced inland, amplifying the benefits of the customs union.
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