Concept of Regional Integration The term “regional integration” is not easy to define, but attempts to understand it have been made for years. In general terms, regional integration refers to the ‘unification of nation states into a larger whole’ (Viner 1). It has been commonly described as a process that entails a country’s will to share or unite into a whole with other states. What determines the level of integration is what that country intends to share and the extent to which it is willing to share. Regional integration sometimes entails compromise on the nation states, but this should not be the case. It should actually enhance general eminence of existence for the citizens of the member states. Regional integration can be also defined along the lines of geographic scope, the substantive coverage and the depth of integration. Geographic scope comprises the number of countries that are involved in the agreement. Substantive coverage means the activity that the integration entails or is involved in, for instance, trade. Finally, the depth of integration is the extent to which a country is ready to give away its sovereignty. This means that a country can either be shallowly or deeply rooted into the integration. Then, the question about the reasons for regional integration arises. Regional integration acts as a unity, especially in fragmented economies, like in the Sub-Saharan Africa. Integration creates larger markets to permit economies of scale wider competition and foreign investment. It also accelerates the opening of enclosed economies to the rest of the world. Integration enhances credibility of national reform through lock-in policy mechanism. It goes ahead to strengthen unity for international negotiations. Finally and most importantly, integration helps avert inter-state conflicts (Viner 2010, p. 2). There are other reasons for integration, especially in the Sub-Saharan Africa that brought about the integration. They are both traditional and non-traditional benefits. The traditional benefits include trade gains, increased returns and favorable competition, and finally, there was increased investment all over the continent. The non-traditional gains associated with the integration include among others mentioned earlier on, insurance and security. Regional Trade Agreement Regional Trade Agreements have taken different forms since the 50s. It was in 1958 that the first form was established under the Rome treaty and known as the European Economic Community. It was a custom union according to GATT because it was mainly involved in the establishment of a common external tariff defined in the treaty as a common market. The reason for this definition was because it provided for free trade in capital and labor coupled with goods and services (Lloyd 1). This had set a precedent that was followed by the others. In 1960, the EFTA was formed followed by the Latin America Free Trade Area in the same year. Central American Common Market was founded the same year while in 1965, the Canada-US Automotive Agreement was created. The others were New Zealand – Australia Free Trade Area formed in 1965 and U.K.- Ireland Free Trade Agreement which appeared in 1965. In the 80s, other agreements came up, so t