The 9th Ordinary Session of the African Union Conference of Ministers of Trade, held from December 1 to 5 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, called on the Pan African Quality Institutes (PAQI) to declare 2017 as the African Year of Quality Infrastructure. The decision is a sign of affirmation of the efforts Africa has made to improve its quality infrastructure, the work done to improve the culture of shared responsibility for creating a proper quality infrastructure for African countries.
The celebrations were timed to support the ongoing negotiations for a Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) for Africa, which is scheduled to begin in late 2017. It will also be an opportunity for the continent to discuss and demonstrate how it plans to inform and arouse the interest of its citizens in the quality of products, services and processes.