The first Regional Forum on the ECOWAS Quality Infrastructure held from 29 January to 1 February 2018 in Dakar

The objective of the forum was to bring together the principal regional and international actors on quality to strengthen the promotion and sustainability of the regional quality infrastructure being set up in the region.

The major aims of the forum were to mobilize attention on the importance of a regional Quality Infrastructure for the inclusive and sustainable industrial development of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as well as to advocate for the mobilization of resources for its operation and sustainability. The forum focused on the following thematic areas: development and implementation of Quality Policies; financing of the Quality Infrastructure; major stakes and challenges of the main Quality Infrastructure components and Quality Promotion in the region. It brought together the main stakeholders dealing with Quality in general, and in particular, technical and financial partners of ECOWAS. Furthermore, the ECOWAS Commission has previously set up the necessary legal basis for sustainable Quality Infrastructure in the region and created the Community Committee for Conformity Assessment (CCEC), the Community Committee for Technical Regulations (CCTR) and the Regional Accreditation System (RAS). In order to make these structures operational, the ECOWAS Community Council of Quality and the ECOWAQ Constitutive General Assembly was organized as a prelude to the forum on 29 January 2018. About 300 participants and 40 companies attended this important event.

This forum was part of the dynamic of the implementation of the Common Industrial Policy and the ECOWAS Quality Policy, both adopted by the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government.

All these activities take place within the framework of the West Africa Quality System Programme (WAQSP), funded by the European Union and implemented by UNIDO.

For more information see the online article or contact:  Mr. Bernard Bau (B.Bau [at] unido.org)