The constitutive meetings of the RSA and Community committees of ECOWAS Quality Infrastructure were held, from 06 to 09 November 2017 in Abuja, Nigeria. The ECOWAS Commissioner in charge of Industry and promotion of Private sector, Mr. Kalilou Traoré, the Project manager of the West Africa Quality System Program in UNIDO, Mr. Bernard Bau, the delegations of the ECOWAS, WAEMU and European Union Commissions, the Regional technical Coordination of the Programme, the technical experts of the beneficiary States of the WAQSP, as well as other institutions (PTB, World-Bank, FEWACCI, FOPAO, SOAC, NINAS, Ghana Accreditation Service, etc.), actively participated in the work.

 The representative of the European Union, Mr. Franck Okafor, underlined the importance of the constitutive meetings which aim at providing the ECOWAS Quality Infrastructure with relevant management structures (Regional System of Accreditation and Community committees of quality), to address quality issues in the sub-region on a long-term basis. He also confirmed that, through the 11th EDF, a funding of around 5 Million Euro will be made available to the ECOWAS Commission to support Quality Infrastructure in the framework of the programme of the chain of values. The ECOWAS Commissioner in charge of Industry and promotion of Private sector, Mr. Kalilou Traoré, informed that "The Quality infrastructure aims to strengthen the business environment by providing our region with the means to improve the quality of the products and services offered and, ultimately, the protection of consumers".  After commending the important contribution of the European Union and UNIDO, the Commissioner reiterated his congratulations to the companies that won the ECOWAS Quality Award for their constant efforts in the quality process. He finally announced the forthcoming Quality Infrastructure Forum. Mr. Francis Alaneme, representative of the Minister of Industry of Nigeria, who officially opened the ceremony, recalled the role of the Community committees of quality in the management of the Regional Quality Infrastructure. "The creation of the managing structures of the Regional Quality Infrastructure will provide quality services that are recognized on continental and international levels", he concluded, wishing success for the participants’ works.

Four (04) committees have been set up: the Community Committee for Metrology, the Community Committee for Conformity Assessment, the Community Committee for Technical Regulations and the Regional Accreditation System. They proceeded to the adoption of their rules of procedures, the elaboration and adoption of their 2017-2018 work plans, the reviewing of the profile for the position of secretary, and the election of presidents and vice-presidents of each committee.

The board below presents the elected presidents and vice-presidents of each Committee