The White House recently issued an official Fact Sheet on the August 4-6, 2014, U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit that highlights the expanding work carried out by the Standards Alliance in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Standards Alliance is a public-private partnership between the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) that provides capacity-building assistance to developing economies, specifically related to implementation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreement. The Standards Alliance currently engages 10 countries or regions, including the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The work plans for the first year of Standards Alliance activities with the EAC and SADC are available online. Recently conducted activities in the EAC include a workshop with the EAC on WTO TBT notification requirements and public consultation [see related news item]. In the SADC, the Standards Alliance is supporting a workshop series on referencing standards in regulation.
The 2014 U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit was the largest event held by a U.S. President to engage African heads of state on matters related to trade, security, and democratic development. The White House Fact Sheet's discussion of the Standards Alliance demonstrates support for the program's mission and accomplishments at the highest levels of government. Program accomplishments in the EAC and SADC regions include the first TBT notification by Rwanda since 2007, the development of an electronic TBT notification system, and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the African Organization for Standardization (ARSO) [see related news item]. To learn more about the tangible successes witnessed during the first year of the Standards Alliance, please view the Annual Report for 2013-2014.
For more information about the Standards Alliance, please visit the website or email [email protected].