Oct 22 (Reuters) - Three African trading blocs agreed on Wednesday to create a free trade zone spanning 26 countries and to establish joint infrastructure and energy projects.

The zone would help streamline access to markets within African regional bodies with an estimated gross domestic product (GDP) of $624 billion. Many African nations belong to conflicting and overlapping groups.

Here are some key facts about the three blocs:

* SADC

-- First formed as the Southern African Development Coordination Conference in 1980 to help nearby nations reduce their economic dependence on apartheid South Africa. It was renamed the Southern African Development Community in 1992.

-- SADC had a cumulative GDP of $379 billion in 2006 with a population of 248 million people.

-- Often dismissed as a talk shop, SADC has nevertheless set specific goals for the region, including eventual monetary and customs union.

-- South Africa is the main political and economic power in the group. Other members are Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

* EAC

-- The East African Community is made up of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi with an estimated population of 121.6 million and a GDP of $46.6 billion in 2006.

-- The EAC was first set up in 1967 but collapsed a decade later because of political and economic disagreements between original partners Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The new EAC came into being in 2000 after a treaty was signed the year before.

-- The Community agreed to a customs union on Jan. 1, 2005 setting common duty rates for imported goods.

-- The bloc aims to have a common market by Jan. 2010 and eventually to transform itself into a political federation.

* COMESA

-- The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa had a GDP of $286.7 billion in 2006 and a population of 398 million.

-- Lusaka-based COMESA was established in 1994 to replace the former Preferential Trade Area (PTA). The bloc runs a bank and a reinsurance company both based in Nairobi, a clearing house in Harare and a leather institute in Ethiopia.

-- It launched Africa's first free trade area in 2000.

-- Its members are Burundi, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Sources: SADC/COMESA/EAC/Reuters. (Writing by Jack Kimball)

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