Abuja - Nigeria — Experts on quality issues began a meeting on Wednesday 17th October 2012 in Niamey, Niger, to finalize two draft documents on quality policy and standards harmonization procedures in the ECOWAS region. The experts gathering precedes the ministerial meeting also the Niger capital, as part of the process to fine-tune the ECOWAS Quality Policy and standards harmonization.
The opening of the experts meeting was chaired by Niger’s Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of Mines and Industrial Development, Mr. Hassane Garba, who described quality policy as one of the ten programmes that should enhance the implementation of the strategies identified in the ECOWAS Common Industrial Policy (WACIP).
Speaking on behalf of the ECOWAS Commissioner for Trade, Customs, Industry and Mines, Free Movement and Tourism, the Director of Industry and Mines, Mr. Mensan Lawson-Hechelli, said that one of the key objectives of ECOWAS is to promote cooperation and integration leading to the establishment of regional economic union.
While welcoming participants, a representative of Niger’s Quality focal person, Mrs. Sanda Mourzanatou, expressed the hope that the experts would achieve the objectives of the meeting. Given the global challenges and key role of industry in national development, ECOWAS Member States have reaffirmed their commitment to industrialization as a tool for development, and the need to partner with the private sector for effective and efficient implementation of WACIP.
To this end, ECOWAS Heads of State and Government at the 38th ordinary session of their Summit held in Cape-Verde in July 2010, noted that a major objective of WACIP is to accelerate industrialization in the region through national industrial transformation of local raw materials, as well as development and diversification of industrial productive capacities, and the strengthening of regional integration.
As part of its integration programme and following extensive consultations, the ECOWAS Commission has developed a draft Regional Quality Policy, which reflects the needs of Member States.
This provides the basis for the harmonization and/or formulation of national Quality policies to guide the creation of suitable, efficient and internationally recognized national QI. The draft Quality Policy also takes into account the differences between legal systems, administrative structures and the level of technological development in the region.
