Figure 7.19: Principal trade organizations in sub-Saharan Africa. There is a lot of overlap between the countries and the regional trade organizations, but often one country is dominant in each group. South Africa and Nigeria, for example, are dominant in three regional trade organizations; but in fact, South Africa uses its many well-established relationships to trade with nearly all countries in the region. Because political stability is essential to trade, some of the strongest trade organizations, such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), have become involved in the amelioration of conflicts.

[Source consulted: UN Conference on Trade and Development, Economic Development in Africa Report 2009: Strengthening Regional Economic Integration for Africa‘s Development (New York: United Nations, 2009), p. 12, Figure 1, at http://www.unctad.org/en/docs/aldcafrica2009_en.pdf]