The Horn of Africa is one of the most important and strategic areas of Africa and the global economy. It is a bridge between Africa and the Middle East, India and Asia as well as a gateway to the oil fields of the Persian Gulf. It is a culturally and historically rich region of the world with great natural resource potential.

Consistent with the existing regional initiatives the Horn of Africa is defined broadly to include the current states of: Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, and Uganda. The region covers an area of 5.2 million sq. km with a population of 165 million that constitutes about 25 percent of the entire population of Africa.

The region is endowed with rivers, lakes, forests, livestock, and high agricultural promise including a virtually untapped potential of marine resources, petroleum, gold, salt, hydro-power and natural gas. The Horn is also home to a diverse ethnicity, languages, and religious practices. It is a region where two of the worlds major religions-Christianity and Islam have co-existed peacefully for generations

Another rationale for economic cooperation is that there already exists infrastructure to build on.such as roads, railroads, and airports that connect most of the sates of the Region