This year is one that we will all have linger in our minds. A beginning of a decade with many occurrences around it. On the bright side, activities in PAQI have not been at a standstill and there has been a train of activities taking place even with the dark COVID-19 cloud hovering around the globe. Here is an insight into some of the current PAQI projects and accomplishments.
The Africa Quality Policy:
The Africa Quality Policy, often referred to as the AQP, is a document that enables African nations to adopt a common policy on both standardization and quality assurance of goods and services. The PAQI institutions, having been tasked to develop the policy by the African Union Commission, were able to deliver a comprehensive document. The AQP has been translated into French, Arabic and Portuguese to cater for the diverse nationalities within the continent. Moreover, ARSO, an institution within PAQI, has submitted the report to AUC for further adoption.
Implementation of the policy will not only promote trade but will also ensure an increased economic development coupled with integration within the African Community. Consequently, the African national, regional and continental organizations that operate in the field of standardization will be strengthened.
The SPS Stocktaking Document 2019.
The Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures relate to all measures pertaining to animals and plants that may have both a direct and indirect impact on international trade. These measures help understand the trade disciplines that may be applied when nations across Africa establish, revise or apply domestic laws and regulations. With an aim to identify any capacity gaps regarding SPS measures in Africa, the stocktaking document was made. The document gives an in-depth analysis of where more investments should be made to achieve the necessary corrective capacity developmental measures.
The SPS Stocktaking document for 2019 is now ready to be printed out after being translated. 200 copies of the document will be printed out for circulation.
TBT Stocktaking Document 2020
Technical Barriers to Trade often comprise of the regulations, standards or procedures that make it difficult for a country to export goods to other countries. With the help of the stocktaking document, it is possible to have an insight into the various barriers that affect trade within African countries. Keeping in mind that the African Free Trade Area Agreement will be in action from July this year, the stocktaking document is important.
The exercise is still ongoing. In line with the resolution 8 of the 15th PAQI JC meeting that was held on 12th February 2020 in Addis Ababa, for PAQI institutions to update their data, ARSO, AFSEC and AFRIMETS have submitted their updated data. The data is concurrent with the 2017 indicators used for comparability purposes.
Joint Cassava value chain project.
The value chain project on cassava is geared towards analyzing the current state of the cassava sector within the top producing and consuming countries in Africa. The existing national and regional standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment regimes for cassava are also examined.
The draft report has been submitted to the PAQI institutions and is being commented on by the different stakeholders.
The Intra-Africa Trade Fair (IATF 2020)
The IATF is an annual event that draws out tangible and actionable interventions on quality infrastructure items that are viable projects that will, in turn, strengthen the Africa Quality Infrastructure and aid in the implementation of the AfCFTA.
The IATF for 2020 was to be held in Kigali, Rwanda from 1st to 7th of September. However, due to the current standstill caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the event has been postponed to 6th-12th September 2021. The venue remains unchanged.