As part of its activities, the WAQSP planned to equip six (6) regional technical secretariats responsible for standards’ harmonization, work tools for the drafting, dissemination and popularization of quality standards.

These are the following secretariats established in the region: Agricultural Products (Nigeria-CTH1) Food Products (Ghana- CTH2), Chemicals (Benin-CTH3), Building and Civil Engineering (Burkina Faso-CTH5), Electro technical Engineering (Ivory Coast CTH5) and Tourism (Ivory Coast CTH6).

It is in this context that on Friday May 6th, 2016, the Ivorian national standards body, CODINORM, received from the WAQSP a set of equipment for the operation of two (2) technical secretariats it houses. Mrs. Daniella ROFI, Representative of the Delegation of European Union in Abidjan, has, on occasion, expressed the hope that this granting of equipment to Technical Committees helps to boost trade within the West African region, like the European space.

She also commended UNIDO and ECOWAS for the obtained results. Mr. Babacar Carlos M’BAYE, Ambassador and permanent Representative of ECOWAS in Côte d’Ivoire, insisted on the importance that represents the promotion of quality in the economic area and in particular, the need to harmonize practices in terms of quality. This is also, he said, the reason for which this harmonization axis remained among the ECOWAS priorities as part of the Common Industrial Policy (WACIP, 2010) and of the Regional Quality Policy (ECOQUAL, 2013).

After the thanks of the Chief Executive Officer of CODINORM to ECOWAS and its partners, Mr. Mougo KOMENAN, representing the Ivorian Minister of Industry and Mines, stated in the same line, especially towards the European Union which, for several years, is committed to ECOWAS and the Members States to promote quality, and towards ECOWAS for its work as a principal owner of the WAQSP PSQAO and UNIDO for its technical expertise, crucial in all phases of the program.