Africa commemorates 2017 as African Year of Quality Infrastructure

ACP, Africa, Economy, Knowledge, Standardisation, Technology, Trade

The African Union Conference of Ministers of Trade held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from the 1st – 5th December 2014, called upon the Pan African Quality Institutions (PAQI) to adopt the year 2017 as the African Year of Quality Infrastructure. The decision was made in recognition of the efforts that Africa has made towards improving its quality infrastructure and to cultivate a culture of collective responsibility in building a sound quality infrastructure amongst African countries.

The decision was made in recognition of the efforts that Africa has made towards improving its quality infrastructure and to cultivate a culture of collective responsibility in building a sound quality infrastructure amongst African countries.

african-infrastructure

As Africa welcomes the year 2017, PAQI ; comprising of, the African Accreditation Cooperation (AFRAC), the Intra-Africa Metrology System (AFRIMETS), the African Electro technicalStandardisation Commission (AFSEC) and the African Organisation for Standardisation(ARSO),encouragesall quality infrastructure players on the African continenttoorganise,support and actively participate in activities geared at improving quality infrastructure on the continent and chart a new course for future improvements.

The African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO) is Africas intergovernmental standards body formed by OAU (currently AU) and UNECA in 1977 in Accra Ghana. The fundamental mandate of ARSO is to develop tools for standards development, standards harmonization and implementation of these systems to enhance Africa’s internal trading capacity, increased Africas product and service competitiveness globally, and uplift of the welfare of African consumers as well as standardization forum for future prospects in international trade referencing.