Experts from China and Africa called for stronger collaboration on standardization, emphasizing its pivotal role in fostering high-quality development and building mutually beneficial partnerships across both sides.
They made the remarks at the China-Africa Standardization Cooperation Conference, held in Beijing on Monday. Under the theme "Standards 'Soft Connectivity' for China-Africa High-Quality Development", the conference brought together representatives from Chinese and African governments, enterprises, and academic sectors to explore how standardization can underpin collaborative development.
Reuben Gisore, technical director of the African Organization for Standardization, underscored the importance of unified norms. He characterized standards as "the quiet infrastructure of trade", explaining that they "help products move, strengthen confidence, and reduce the technical barriers that can hold businesses back".
Gisore lauded China as "a reliable partner to African countries, from the support of independence to economic development, infrastructure, and industrialization", adding that standardization collaboration now offers the two sides a "structured way to solve common challenges together".
Standardization cooperation "reaches small and medium enterprises, youth, traders, and farmers through education and training", Gisore said. "It supports better production processes, consumer safety, and stronger business order. It also opens space for joint development or adoption of standards where common interests demand practical solutions."
Fu Qiang, director of the Institute of Agriculture and Biotechnology Standardization at the China National Institute of Standardization, highlighted the China-Zambia Agricultural Standardization Demonstration Zone as a prime example of how such collaboration delivers tangible benefits.
He detailed that this initiative stemmed from China's commitment at the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation to establish 100,000 mu (approximately 6,670 hectares) of standardized agricultural demonstration areas in Africa. The China-Zambia project received formal approval for implementation in October 2024.
Two years on, the demonstration zone has already established 100,000 mu of standardized demonstration areas, created over 10,000 job opportunities and cultivated more than 50 standardization technical talents, Fu said.
The zone has also spurred economic prosperity, with a commercialization rate for agricultural products reaching 96 percent and annual exports valued between $10 million and $14 million, he added.
"Through practice, China and Africa have formed a replicable model for agricultural standardization cooperation," Fu concluded. "Looking ahead, we aim to leverage the China-Zambia demonstration zone as a blueprint, extending our successful practices to more African countries and a wider variety of crops."
The conference, hosted by the China National Institute of Standardization, also marked the official launch of the China-Africa Standards Information Platform. By centralizing and sharing standardization information from both sides, this platform seeks to reduce regulatory complexities and technical barriers hindering China-Africa cooperation.
