On the dates of 4th and 5th August 2016, In Novotel Hotel, one of the splendid places in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, two PAQI events were convened to review the progress of PAQI and its Pillars activities towards sustainable economic development through accelerating quality infrastructure development.
On 4th PAQI Pillars, namely The African Accreditation Cooperation (AFRAC), The Intra-Africa Metrology System (AFRIMETS), The African Electrotechnical Standardisation Commission (AFSEC) and The African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO), together with representatives from the African Union Commission (AUC) and Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) had their joint committee meeting where the delegates were Dr. Hermogène Nsengimana, PAQI Chairperson, Mr. Ronald Josias, AFRAC President, Mr. Dennis Moturi, AFRIMETS President, Mr. Claude Koutoua, AFSEC President, Mrs Boudali Rezgui Narjes, ARSO President, Mr. Paul Michael Date, AFRIMETS representative, Mr. Reuben Gisore, ARSO representative, Dr Oswald Chinyamakobvu, AUC TBT Advisor, Mr. Martin Kaiser, PTB Consultant, Mr. Paul Walakira and Mrs. Nadine Umutoni PAQI Secretariat staff.
All items on the agenda have been reviewed deliberated on with and sound and tangible resolutions.
The PAQI JC meeting decided to review the Terms of Reference for the consultancy services to develop of a National Quality Policy (NQP) Guide and another closed tender process has to be done since the committee couldn’t assess one application that was present. The date for submission of bids was extended to 15th October, 2016. The TORs should be translated in French for easy access of French speaking Consultants.
The Joint committee went through the implementation matrix for the PAQI strategic plan aligned to AUC presented by Mr. Paul Walakira and agreed that the matrix should be updated with the undertaken activities by each PAQI Pillar and be forwarded to the Secretariat to enable compilation of a detailed report.
On the collaboration of PAQI institutions, the PAQI JC resolved on a joint cassava project and the PAQI coordinator and AUC TBT advisor were asked to draft the project proposal. As 2017 was dedicated to Quality Infrastructure, PAQI JC resolved to have African year of Quality Infrastructure held at national, regional and continental levels with a theme that promotes QI. Awareness creation sessions have been done in East African Legislation Assembly (EALA) and should also be done in five Regional Economic Communities namely COMESA, ECCAS, ECOWAS, SADC and UMA. There should be utilization of global thematic celebration days to celebrate the year of quality infrastructure.
PAQI JC noted with appreciation PAQI’s contribution towards the CFTA and towards the drafting of the CFTA TBT and SPS annexes. The JC also noted with appreciation the draft report on comparative analysis of the TBT policies in Africa.
PAQI JC resolved to hold the next meeting scheduled for 9th- 10th February, 2017 in Ghana.
The meeting was adjourned after a vote of thanks and especially to Koutoua Claude for hosting this meeting.
On 5th PAQI Forum held it 4th meeting with delegates from 4 PAQI Pillars, EAC, ECCAS, ECOWAS, SADC, CODINORM and the Ministry of Mine and Industry in Cote d’Ivoire. The QI Stocktaking in Africa has been presented to the forum with focus to Côte d’Ivoire’s position when it comes to national quality infrastructure for the benefit of the local delegates. Despite Côte d’Ivoire being a member of some of the PAQI institutions, during the discussion, a number of benefits that Côte d’Ivoire would enjoy from being a member of all the PAQI institutions were highlighted and Côte d’Ivoire’s delegation promised to follow up the issue of membership with relevant local authorities.
PAQI Forum resolved to collaborate with RECs in building capacity of the RECs in conformity assessment systems in order to have RECs with robust Quality Infrastructure (QI) that supports Africa’s development and integration policies. Existing information sharing mechanisms should be intensified at national regional and continental levels and RECs should encourage their quality structures to join and participate in the activities of the relevant PAQI Institutions.
Tunisia, as ARSO Vice President, is to confirm the hosting of the next PAQI Forum meeting scheduled for August, 2017
At the end of these events, PAQI Forum extends its sincere appreciation to Mr. Koutoua Claude for the excellent work done in organizing and hosting PAQI JC and Forum meetings on behalf of AFSEC.