Recently, the China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment (CNAS) and the South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on mutual cooperation. The signing ceremony was attended by Mr. Shu Wei, Vice Minister of the State Administration for Market Regulation of China, and Mr. Parks Tau, Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition of South Africa.

SANAS is the sole national accreditation body in South Africa, and is also the oldest and largest accreditation body in Africa. According to the MoU, CNAS and SANAS will carry out exchanges and cooperation through various means, including information exchange, experience sharing, personnel visits, joint assessments, and training seminars. This collaboration aims to better leverage the technical supporting role of accreditation in facilitating the connectivity of quality infrastructure between China and South Africa, as well as between China and Africa, and in supporting the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative.

During the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in September 2024, CNAS invited six African accreditation bodies, including SANAS, to China for technical exchanges on accreditation. Building on this foundation, CNAS has continued to advance the "China-Africa Conformity Assessment Capacity Building Initiative." To date, CNAS has signed bilateral agreements with five African accreditation bodies, including SANAS, with the cooperation covering 25 countries across the African continent.