The Federation of African Engineering Organisation (FAEO) has pledged its resolve to support the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement to help boost free trade across the continent.
In a declaration at the end of the five-day conference of FAEO held in Accra, FAEO noted that the role of engineering was important to the realisation of the objectives of AfCFTA.
The President of FAEO, Mrs Carlien Bou-Chedid and the Chairman of the Conference, Eng. Martin Manuhwa, who is also the Immediate Past President of FAEO, jointly presented the twelve-point conference declaration to the media in Accra.
The FAEO said drawing inspiration from the deliberations and discussions of the conference, the organisation would take the necessary steps to institutionalise its relationship with AfCFTA, AU and the governments of all African countries.
“The first step is to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with AfCFTA, actively engage the AfCFTA Secretariat and Heads of Member States in the delivery of solutions to infrastructure required to ensure free trade across Africa”, the declaration said.
The African Engineers pledged to lead in the harmonisation of standards and codes across Africa by engaging the relevant regional bodies; innovate commercially in order to harness the natural resources of the African Continent.
“The FAEO will establish an African Fulbright Programme to teach our own and create an African University exchange programme among lecturers and students; promote ethical training in curriculum for engineering education; mentor more students in second cycle institutions to pursue engineering through aggressive outreach activities and convince governments of member states to increase funding towards research in engineering,” the declaration, said.
The FAEO further said it would lead a training programme for intellectual property rights; sign the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM); lead in the development of Infrastructure and establish an African Arbitration Centre.
On Women in Engineering, the FAEO resolved to encourage women to study and practice engineering by creating infrastructure which would meet the needs of women.
FAEO advocated facilities in infrastructure to cater for women in Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises, and the promotion of gender consideration during planning, design, and implementation and post implementation stages of all projects would be the priorities of the organisation.
The organisation advocated policies that enable women access to funding and promote policies that mandate the inclusivity of women in all infrastructural projects as well as expand access to digital infrastructure.
BY KINGSLEY ASARE
