The Minister of Trade and Industry (the dti), Dr Rob Davies will deliver a key note address at the third African Accreditation Cooperation (AFRAC) General Assembly and Meetings on Monday, 1 October 2012 at 9h00, Emperor’s Palace Hotel. The event is hosted by the South African National Accreditation System (SANAS), which is an agency of the dti. Members of the media are invited to cover it.
The African Accreditation Cooperation (AFRAC) is a cooperation of accreditation bodies, sub-regional accreditation cooperation and stakeholders whose objective is to facilitate trade and contribute to the protection of health, safety and the environment, in Africa and thereby improve Africa’s competitiveness.
Minister Davies says that it is important for Africa to establish an accreditation cooperation infrastructure in order to assist African enterprises to prove compliance with different standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment requirements, and to reduce their cost to do business in Africa.
‘The accreditation infrastructure is also important if countries want to create a level playing field for African enterprises that may have to compete with imports that are of very low quality and may be unsafe or environmentally damaging,’ said Davies.
Minister Davies says the African continent is currently one of the few regions that are growing and this is creating opportunities for countries in the region to industrialise.
‘This is also establishing new manufacturing sectors and scale up and resuscitate certain industries that can create job while simultaneously contributing to broader social benefits. These industries can serve either domestic or export markets’
AFRAC is one of the four pillars of the Pan-African quality infrastructure established by the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) Planning and Coordinating Agency to support intra-African trade, improve the competitiveness of African goods and services and to facilitate health and safety of the public and the environment. AFRAC whose establishment was partially funded by PTB Germany is to facilitate capacity building in accreditation across the continent with the goal of sustaining an internationally acceptable mutual recognition arrangement.
Tomorrow’s third African Accreditation Cooperation (AFRAC) General Assembly and Meetings on Monday will be attended by quality infrastructure and local industry stakeholders, international development partners and African accreditation bodies.
Enquiries:
South African National Accreditation System
Tshenolo Molamu
Cell: 082 575 6970
E-mail: TshenoloM@sanas.co.za
Website: www.sanas.co.za
The Department of Trade and Industry
Sidwell Medupe
Departmental Spokesperson
Tel: 012 394 1650
Cell: 079 492 1774
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
Follow us on Twitter: the_dti
South Africa to host the third African Accreditation Cooperation (AFRAC) General Assembly and meetings
