Bringing to Ethiopia its First Certification Body
By raising Ethiopian products and processes to international standards, Ethiopia will attract much needed foreign direct investment and create new markets for its goods and services. As such, one of the main missions of ecbp is to build a proper quality infrastructure (QI) in the country.
As a part of QI’s work, the official launch of the accreditation procedure of the Quality and Standards Authority of Ethiopia (QSAE), ecbp’s partner in QI, was held on the 6th of February, 2007. This procedure will ultimately lead to Ethiopia’s first Certification Body, giving the QSAE the international authority to certify quality management systems, saving resources and valuable production time for the country.
The event was attended by H. E. Ato Tadesse Haile, State Ministerfor Trade and Industry; Dr. Thomas Facklam, Managing Director of the German accreditation body and President of the International Accreditation Forum and Dr. Bernd Ehinger, the President of the Rhein-Main Handwerkskammer.
The market demand for system certification has grown due largely to the export policies of the Ethiopian government. Currently, certification organizations active in Ethiopia are all foreign and their prices are often too high for small and medium enterprises. “Adding a national quality infrastructure is of paramount importance to Ethiopia in today’s increasingly globalized economy,” said Ato Tedesse. “The current world market demands that our private sectors equip their businesses with modern systems which can deliver quality products and services in a sustainable manner,” he continued, addressing officials from the private sector and donor organizations.
ecbp has responded to this need by recruiting the German consulting firm, the Rhein-Main Handwerkskammer (Chambers of Handcrafts), to support QSAE in the process of accrediting its system certification operation.
This is an important initiative that will bring the country closer to the goal of ecbp by giving quality infrastructure to Ethiopia. “It is really good news for the private sector,” Mohamed Nurseni, Chairman of the Ethiopian Manufacturing Industrial Association (EMIA) said. “We hope there will be private certifying bodies in the future.”