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Dr Cécile Mayer, IIW CEO, with Dr Emmanuel Gyasi (Ghana, left) and Dr Paul
Kah (Cameroon) participating in the IIW Annual Assembly, Helsinki, 2015
LINKING PEOPLE, JOINING NATIONS
In Africa, despite the efforts of the Southern African Institute of Welding (SAIW),
it was proving difficult to attract developing nations to embrace the concept of welding
improving the global quality of life. At this time only Libya and SouthAfrica were members
of IIW. Great faith was placed in the possibility that things may change after the IIW
International Congress held in Cairo, Egypt, in late November 2004. The event attracted
230 participants from 27 countries of which 15 were non-member countries from Africa
(Benin, Botswana, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger,
Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe).
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Funding and opportunity, as always, were the key to addressing the
problem of improving life on the African continent. Egypt, in understanding
this, eventually did become a member of IIW in 2007. Israel, in also
understanding the importance of welding to its economy, held an IIW
International Congress in Tel Aviv in 2005 illustrating IIW’s outstanding
impartiality with respect to the ongoing political situation in the Middle East.
Nigeria was what can be called one of the success stories on the African continent.
The Nigerian Institute of Welding (NIW) was formed in 1980 and since its establishment
underwent several major transformations leading up to the time that it became a full member
of IIW in 2006. Up to that point, and since, NIW had relationships with several IIWMember
Societies, including AWS, DVS and Gesellschaft für Schweißtechnik international mbH
(GSI) SLV-TR
in Turkey, SAIW, and the WTIA. Understandably, as a result of this, NIW
was considered to be an example for other developing countries in West Africa, particularly
through its achievement in becoming an Authorised National Body of IIW’s IAB.
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