The African Quality Policy was adopted during a specialized technical committee meeting of the African Union (Council of Ministers for Trade and Industry) by a large consensus on 3 September 2021 in Addis Ababa.
The African Union Commission designated this as an important step in the implementation of the newly established African Continental Free Trade Area, or AfCFTA for short. The numerous representatives of international organizations who were present, including representatives from the United Nations, described the policy as a signpost for participation in global value chains.
Representatives from 50 countries and six African economic communities came to a consensus on the content of the document during discussion rounds in an intensive and transparent process. In addition, Member States and economic communities organized internal coordination loops. In accordance with African Union policy, each step had to be documented, meaning that the editorial staff needed to complete the difficult task of registering 500 comments.
All that work, however, paid off! After this complex process was completed, nothing stood in the way of adopting the African Quality Policy.
An encompassing quality policy is necessary to meet the demands placed on quality infrastructure to support Africa’s industrialization, trade, the health and safety of consumers as well as environmental protection. The African Quality Policy contains all elements of quality infrastructure and demonstrates to Member States how national quality infrastructure systems can be designed to sufficiently meet the demands of the African Free Trade Area while, at the same time, meeting international requirements.
We are very proud to have helped promote the development of the African Quality Policy in a joint effort with Afreximbank. We were assigned this task by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
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