Abuja, 14 June 2024: – African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has commenced project development activities for a new African Quality Assurance Center (AQAC) in Kaduna State, Nigeria.
The Bank’s delegation led by Ms. Oluranti Doherty, Director, Export Development, Afreximbank while accompanied by Mr. Ohioze Unuigbe, Bureau Veritas Government Relations Sales Director, Africa and Mr. Jean Michel Perret, Managing Director, Bureau Veritas Nigeria, toured the site for the AQAC in Kaduna State on June 5, 2024.
The site is located on a 5-hectare piece of land within the Green Agro Allied Industrial Zone (GAAIZ) situated along the Kaduna-Abuja road in Chikun Local Government Area. Mrs. Patience Fakai, Honourable Commissioner for Business, Innovation and Technology represented the Government.
Deputy Governor, H.E. Dr Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe expressed the State Government’s gratitude to Afreximbank’s executives present for choosing to set up an AQAC in Kaduna State when she hosted the delegation at the Government House, Kaduna. She assured the Bank of the State Government’s commitment to ensuring the successful implementation and completion of the project.
H.E. Governor Uba Sani reiterated his administration’s commitment in facilitating the swift implementation of the AQAC in Kaduna State when he met the team on their final day of the visit. While receiving the AQAC’s certificate of occupancy, Ms. Oluranti Doherty, thanked the Governor for allocating an additional two hactares to the project, and affirmed Afreximbank’s intention to swiftly progress with the implementation of the AQAC in Kaduna State on the 5-hectare piece of land.
She explained that the Bank embarked on the AQAC initiative in order to ensure that “Made in Africa” products meet international standards and technical regulations in order to avoid rejections at export markets in line with the Bank’s mandate of promoting intra- and extra-African trade.
Ms. Doherty also stressed the urgent need to encourage regional harmonization of standards and technical regulations in order to ease trade and commerce under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and disclosed that Afreximbank has been collaborating with a number of stakeholders, including the African Organization for Standardization (ARSO) to harmonize standards in key sectors including for textiles, apparel, leather and gastronomy.
The AQAC in Kaduna State will provide conformity assessment in the food and agri services, textile, leather and packaging sectors for the Northern Region of Nigeria and neighbouring West African countries. The development of the facility in Kaduna State, comes on the heels of the successful commissioning of the pilot AQAC in Ogun Sate Nigeria in December 2022. The AQAC in Kaduna State will be developed in partnership with Bureau Veritas, a world leader in testing, inspection and certification, who will provide technical support in managing and operating the facility.
ENDS
About Afreximbank
African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is a Pan-African multilateral financial institution mandated to finance and promote intra-and extra-African trade. For 30 years, the Bank has been deploying innovative structures to deliver financing solutions that support the transformation of the structure of Africa’s trade, accelerating industrialization and intra-regional trade, thereby boosting economic expansion in Africa. A stalwart supporter of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), Afreximbank has launched a Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) that was adopted by the African Union (AU) as the payment and settlement platform to underpin the implementation of the AfCFTA. Working with the AfCFTA Secretariat and the AU, the Bank is setting up a US$10 billion Adjustment Fund to support countries effectively participating in the AfCFTA. At the end of December 2023, Afreximbank’s total assets and guarantees stood at over US$37.3 billion, and its shareholder funds amounted to US$6.1 billion. Afreximbank has investment grade ratings assigned by GCR (international scale) (A), Moody’s (Baa1), Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCR) (A-) and Fitch (BBB). Afreximbank has evolved into a group entity comprising the Bank, its impact fund subsidiary called the Fund for Export Development Africa (FEDA), and its insurance management subsidiary, AfrexInsure (together, “the Group”). The Bank is headquartered in Cairo, Egypt.
For more information, visit: www.afreximbank.com
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