Somalia on Monday deposited its instrument of ratification of the Treaty of Accession to the East African Community (EAC), officially making it the regional bloc's eighth member state.

A statement issued on Monday by the EAC headquarters said in line with the EAC admission procedure for new members, the EAC Secretary General Peter Mathuki pronounced Somalia as the new member of the EAC, a regional intergovernmental organization.

The statement said a high-level delegation led by Somalia's Minister of Commerce and Industry Jibril Abdirashid Haji Abdi deposited the instrument with the EAC Secretary General in the EAC headquarters in Tanzania's northern city of Arusha.

The other seven member states of the EAC are Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania.

The EAC leaders endorsed Somalia's membership into the bloc during the 23rd Ordinary Summit of the EAC Heads of State in November last year held in Tanzania's northern city of Arusha.

(Cover: Exterior view of the East African Community (EAC) headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania, May 20, 2022. /Xinhua)

(With input from Xinhua)