Africa Leather and Leather Products Institute (ALLPI) delegates at the invitation of the secretary General of ARSO participated in the 29th General Assembly and Africa Standardization week held in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, 5 – 7 July 2023. The ALLPI delegates Mr. Ghebregziabher Ghebremedhin Acting Executive Director (Mission Leader) and Mr. Harrison Mungai (Tannery and Leather Value Chain Expert) participated in the Africa Standardization Day. The African Day of Standardization has been a series of an annual events and this year it was the 29th of the series of annual events. The African Day of Standardization is celebrated with the aim of raising awareness among African policy makers, Leaders, Regulators, Industry, Academia, consumers and the entire citizens on the benefits of standardization and to celebrate the milestone of Africa Standardization.
The 29th General Assembly and Africa Day of Standardization was celebrated under the Theme “Acceleration of African Continental Free Trade Area Implementation One Standard, One Test – One Certificate Accepted Everywhere.” The Theme is in the context of the AU year 2023, theme on Accelerated Implementation of the AfCFTA.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs on Behalf of the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo officially opened the event. The Minister stressed on the importance of harmonization of standards in accelerating the implementation of the Africa continental Free Trade Area. He confirmed DR Congo’s commitment towards the implementation of AfCFTA. DR Congo both as one of the champions of the implementation of the Africa Free Trade area and member of ARSO is ready towards harmonization of the standards, acceptance of a test by member state and finally accepting certificates issued by AfCFTA member states. The Minister of Trade and Industry DR Congo made the Key Note Address and stressed that acceptance of one certificate by all AfCFTA member states will have a big impact in increasing the intra trade and economic integration of the continent. If the continent is to grow and develop FTA among the African countries has to be expedited and harmonization of standard will play crucial role. During the ARSO standard week ARSO’s General Assembly also took place. In the Africa Standardization week Member States, partners participated both in the General Assembly and Africa Standardization week.
The four day congregation were packed with panel discussions and ARSO General Assembly Meeting: Supporting SMEs through standardization – Textile and Leather, Pharmaceuticals, Automotive, Packaging in the food industry, Conformity Assessment – Role of VSS, Made in Africa qualification criteria – Increasing Africa’s Export Share (Intra – Africa and Global trade), Aligning National Quality Policy to African Quality Policy – Role of Institutional framework – Regulators vs standard bodies and lastly ARSO General Assembly Meeting were some of the topics discussed.
In the Africa Standardization Day the Acting Executive Director Mr. Gheberegziabher Ghebremedhin briefed the participants What ALLPI is and What ALLPI does and the collaborations between ALLPI and ARSO. In his brief the Ag ED discussed as to why the two organizations are natural allies in the transformation of the leather sector in transforming it from the production and trading of raw hides and skins to the production and trading of value-added products of finished leather, footwear and leather products. He further informed the participants that the two organizations have signed an MOU to consolidate their collaborations and confirmed ALLPI’s commitment to realize the implementation of the signed MOU.
Mr. Munugai tannery and leather value chain expert was a panelist in one of the sessions. He dealt with questions:
- Africa has massive potential to be competitive in textile and leather industry but it is struggling to enter the global competition and become an industrial, what are the key challenges facing the sector?
- What policy and regulatory reforms to think are needed to make the sector more competitive and play its key role in Africa’s economic development?
Besides the above activities the delegates conducted sideline meetings with heads of standard offices of a number of countries and development partners.
Overall, the mission was a good occasion to introduce ALLPI and the activities it is conducting to the Forum participants. Moreover, the mission was also important to consolidate the collaborations between ALLPI and ARSO and strategize on how to implement the MOU signed on the ground.
