The Government of Ghana through the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) will host the 65th Council Meeting of the African Organization for Standardization (ARSO) in Accra, slated for November 24 and 26, 2021.

The meeting comes amidst calls to accelerate the harmonisation of standards in the region which is seen as crucial to achieving the objectives of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Council members from across ARSO member states will gather at the three-day event as they seek to facilitate seamless intra-trading through harmonized quality infrastructure.

It is the first Council meeting since the General Assembly unanimously elected the Director General of GSA, Prof Alex Dodoo as the president of ARSO. He is scheduled to lead the organization from June 2022 up until 2025.

The Council meeting has been themed: The Beginning of Trade among African countries under the AfCFTA Agreement: Boosting Intra-African trade within the African Single Market through “One Standard - One Test - One Certificate - Accepted Everywhere.”

Prof. Alex Dodoo said the gathering will help ARSO to further discussions on ensuring local businesses can access the 1.2 billion population market without technical barriers.

This he said will enable them to expand their operations and create more decent jobs to help tackle Africa’s unemployment challenge.

“AfCFTA will remain a slogan if we fail to address the technical barriers to intra-Africa trade. So this meeting will build up on the work done so far and find innovative ways to accelerate the standards harmonization process for businesses to take off,” President-elect of ARSO, Prof Dodoo said.