Kenya will be the second country after Nigeria to host the Africa Quality Assurance Centre( AQAC), an international standards centre.
Trade Cabinet Secretary (CS) Moses Kuria on Thursday announced during a meeting between AQAC and the line departments in quality standards from Kenya.
AQAC is owned by the African Export-Import Bank (AfriExim) and it is one of the bank’s initiatives to develop world-class quality assurance centres across Africa.
The first centre was built in Nigeria in December 2022, with a goal to ensure that Made-in-Africa products comply with international standards and technical regulations in order to promote exports and facilitate intra and extra-African trade.
Speaking after Kenya was identified as the second host for the centre, Kuria remarked that it would help Kenya increase exports while minimising imports.
“To this end, we must ensure our export products meet the best international standards,” Kuria remarked during the meeting.
On how the centre would help Kenya, Kuria explained, “AQAC is a globally recognised quality assurance centre.”
“This means, that once our products are tested and approved from these stations, they will easily and without any barrier enter any market in the world.”
The Trade CS noted that the Dongo Kundu Special Economic Zone in Mombasa was best suited to host the centre due to its ideal location and availability of expansion space.
Details of the centre
AQAC is a state-of-the-art centre with the capacity to offer testing and certification of products for both export and domestic consumption.
AfriExim Bank makes sure the AQAClaboratories and modern instruments offer the requisite testing services, including physical and chemical testing, contaminant analysis (such as pesticides and heavy metals), microbiological testing, water analysis, soil analysis, plant analysis and organic substrate analysis.
