SADCAS CEO, Ms. Eve Christine Gadzikwa attended the China-Africa Workshop held on the 1st to 11 September 2024 in Beijing, China with SADCAS delegates: Scheme Coordinator- Mr. Victor Mundembe and Communications & Public Relations Officer- Mr. Boniface Badubi. The workshop was held on the sidelines of the Forum on China- Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit held on the 4 to September 2024, under the theme “Joining Hands to Advance Modernisation and Build High-Level China- Africa Community with a Shared Future.
To kickstart the China – Africa Accreditation Workshop 2024, Pu Chun, the Deputy Director of the General Administration of Market Supervision and the Director of the National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between CNAS and five accreditation bodies: SADC Accreditation Service (SADCAS), South African National Accreditation System (SANAS), Nigerian National Accreditation System (NiNAS), SOAC (West African Economic and Monetary Union Accreditation Agency - UEMOA) and Kenya Accreditation Service (KENAS).
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) marks the beginning of a long fruitful friendship between China and Africa. Forum on China- Africa Cooperation Beijing Action Plan (2025 -2027) highlighted the establishment of the China-Africa Center for Standardization Cooperation and Research and the China- Africa conformity assessment capacity building initiative. Furthermore, according to the memorandum, CNAS and relevant African accreditation bodies there will be exchange programmes, personnel visits, technical training and seminars. These efforts will strengthen the development of the African quality infrastructure.
The insightful and packed programme was filled with various technical visits and tours to different CABs, which unpacked the CAB operation and implementation of accreditation requirements and experience sharing between the participants.
The technical visit to CAB and workshop at CAB includes a tour in the CAB, CAB introduction of its operation and implementation of accreditation requirements, CNAS introduction of its related accreditation processes and practices, and Q&A and experience sharing among participants. The CAB’s visited included:
- Technical visit to China National Institute of Metrology & workshop on accreditation of calibration laboratory and NIM
- Technical visit to Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine (CAIQ) & workshop on testing laboratory accreditation
- Technical visit to China Quality Certification Center (CQC) & workshop on accreditation of certification body and validation & verification body
- Technical visit to Beijing Continental Hengtong Certification Co., Ltd. (CHTC) & workshop on accreditation of organic and agri-food certification bodies
- Technical visit to Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH) & workshop on medical laboratory accreditation
- Technical visit to China-Road Transportation Verification & Inspection Hi-Tech Co., Ltd. (CTVIC) & workshop on PTP accreditation
- Technical visit to China Testing & Certification International Group Co., Ltd. (CTC) & workshop on inspection body accreditation
- Technical visit to Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH) & biobank accreditation workshop
- Technical visit to Fada Institute of Forensic Medicine & Science (FDFS) & forensic unit accreditation workshop
The China- Africa Accreditation Workshop 2024 was a successful programme and the start of mutual cooperation between SADCAS and CNAS, and will bear fruitful results in capacity building and strengthening the quality infrastructure in the SADC region and Africa.
