Somalia's parliament on Saturday approved the Treaty of Accession to the East African Community (EAC), completing the country's eighth membership in the regional bloc, Ednews informs via Xinhua.

The Second Deputy Speaker of the House of the People of the Federal Parliament of Somalia, Abdullahi Omar Abshir, said 148 out of 150 lawmakers voted in favor of the treaty for Somalia to join the bloc, while one rejected it and another abstained during the vote in the parliament.

The Somali Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Daud Aweis Jama, said the parliament's ratification of this treaty signals the completion of Somalia's membership process, beating the six-month deadline set for Somalia to deposit its instruments of ratification with the EAC secretariat.

"This is a significant step forward in Somalia's integration with the regional bloc, showcasing its commitment to the House of People of the Federal Parliament has approved the country's admission to the EAC bloc, with 148 MPs (members of parliament) voting in favor on Saturday," he said in a statement issued in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.

Somalia was admitted as the eighth member of the EAC in November 2023, joining Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Uganda.

Experts have said the entry of Somalia will massively boost the EAC's geographical reach, its efforts to improve its multilateral and fiscal standing, and the exploitation of Somalia's blue economy resources, such as fish, which will boost the regional economy.