SMIIC Secretary General M. Ihsan ÖVÜT and his accompanying delegate actively participated in the 29th General Assembly of the African Organization of Standardization (ARSO) held in Kishasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, from July 5th to 7th, 2023.

The theme of the General Assembly was "Acceleration of the African Continental Free Trade Area Implementation - One Standard, One Test, One Certificate Accepted Everywhere."

During his address to the assembly, SMIIC Secretary General M. Ihsan ÖVÜT emphasized the significance of the theme and highlighted the commitment of SMIIC to contribute to the success of ARSO's objectives. Furthermore, he underscored the importance of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between SMIIC and ARSO and also expressed his appreciation to ARSO Central Secretariat for delivering to the SMIIC Staff, a training regarding the African Standards Harmonization Model (ASHAM) on January 25, 2023.

Additionally, M. ÖVÜT seized the opportunity to hold meetings with delegations from African Organization for Standardization (ARSO), International Organization forStandardization (ISO), GCC Standardization Organization (GSO), Agence des Normes et de la Qualité (ANOR), Agence Tchadienne de Normalisation (ATNOR), Agence Gabonaise de Normalisation (AGANOR), Somali Bureau of Standards (SOBS), and Office Congolais de Control (OCC). These productive meetings were held with the aim of fostering the excellent collaboration that exists between SMIIC and these organizations.