The Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA) has called on African governments and standards bodies to abstain in the balloting, due to close Saturday, on whether a file format based on Microsoft's Office Open XML (OOXML) should be an international standard. FOSSFA encouraged African governments to facilitate the debate on open standards and involve national experts in decisions regarding technology standards. The organization also urged African governments to seek a collective African voice prior to taking positions on open standards issues.