Under the patronage of the Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy, the African Electrotechnical Standardisation Commission (AFSEC) held an extraordinary meeting in its new permanent headquarters in Cairo after it moved from the temporary headquarters in South Africa early this year.
AFSEC, a subsidiary body of the African Energy Commission (AFREC), is responsible for standardising and issuing standard specifications in the field of electrical equipment in the African continent, with reference to the standards of global standards, following their harmonisation through its technical committees to suit the conditions and requirements of the continent. It also ensures the conformity of the specifications of the equipment that is manufactured or imported with the standard specifications.
The AFSEC meeting follows the signing of the Free Trade Agreement in July. One of the provisions of this agreement was that the relevant bodies, including AFSEC, would facilitate trade through cooperation in the fields of specifications, conformity assessment, measurement, and accreditation.
The AFSEC assembly discussed at the extraordinary meeting the redrafting of its strategic plan 2019-2024 to include provisions for such cooperation.
The committee also discussed the programme of youth participation in its activities, which currently includes nine young people working in the field of specifications.
The importance of this extraordinary meeting is also the election of a new chairperson and treasurers as well as some of the presidents of the technical committees to study the specifications according to the requirements of development projects in member countries. These committees also include experts in various fields of electric power and renewable energy.
The meeting was attended by the heads of national standards committees in 16 African countries, as well as representatives of African organisations related to standards, measurement, accreditation, organisers of transport, distribution, and energy vessels in Africa. Representatives of development partners and international financial institutions also attended the meeting.
