The first African used vehicles importers meeting was held on 25 June 2021. The meeting brought together twenty seven (27) African countries and African regional bodies namely the Africa Union Commission (AUC), the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the Economic Community of West African States( ECOWAS) and the East Africa Community (EAC). Participants to this virtual meeting were drawn from government, industry and non-governmental agencies. This first used vehicles importers meeting was organized by UNEP, one of the UN Road Safety Fund (UNRSF) project partners. Also in attendance were the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), Federation Internationale d’Automobile (FIA) and the International Motor Vehicles Inspection Committee (CITA), who are the other UNRSF project implementing partners, in addition to the AUC and UNECA.
The aim of the UNRSF project is to ensure that only safer and cleaner used vehicles are exported or imported into Africa. While giving his keynote address, Jean Todt, United Nations Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety and President of Federation Internationale de l`Autromobile pointed out that addressing the used vehicles issue was timely in line with the second decade of action for road safety. Highlighting that improving the quality of used vehicles was a shared responsibility between the exporters and importers, he proposed a two-prong approach where exporters of used vehicles introduce minimum export standards and importers of used vehicles introduce minimum import standards.
The current state of used vehicles imported into Africa was presented by UNEP and the Netherlands Government, from the activities carried out in the region and research finding. Through the meeting discussions, the importance of applying a regional approach to harmonization of standards and having a vehicle data sharing system was emphasized. Moving forward, the African regional bodies committed to spearhead the development and introduction of minimum emissions and safety standards for the continent through the support of the “Safer and Cleaner Vehicles for Africa” project.
For more information see meeting documents tab above.
