Africa-Press – Angola. The Secretariat of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is finalizing a regional strategy to improve the participation of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in regional and continental trade, said in Luanda, the director for Industrial Development and SADC commercial, Dhunraj Kassee.
Speaking at the workshop on “The Impact of Quality on Human Capital”, on the sidelines of the 39th annual meeting of SADC structures, he highlighted that achieving the strategy’s objectives depends on the entry into force in all SADC Member States of the standards, regulations appropriate techniques and conformity assessment mechanisms.
He stressed that the strategy will help small business operators to comply with best international practices, which will allow them to penetrate new markets.
Dhunraj Kassee highlights that removing technical barriers to trade links the region to the continent and the world, through trade under different agreements such as the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA), the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) or any other globally agreed mechanism.
He reinforced that the objective of implementing the SADC Trade Protocol is to liberalize intra-regional trade in goods and services, ensure efficient production, contribute to improving the climate for domestic, cross-border and foreign investment, and improve economic development, the diversification and industrialization of the region.
He stressed that, to contribute to this, the SADC Secretariat has facilitated the harmonization of a series of instruments, such as standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures.
In turn, the director general of the National Institute of Quality Infrastructures (INIQ), Olga Dicamba, explains that the SADC Forum on Technical Barriers to Trade has as its main objective the reduction of technical barriers to trade in the region.
He stressed that it aims to facilitate intra-regional, intra-continental trade, global trade and bilateral trade, through the development and aligned action in the structures of standardization activities, Legal, applied, scientific metrology, accreditation, conformity assessment, namely laboratory testing, calibration, certification and inspection, technical regulations and party participation.
“If each of us contributes with our time, our knowledge, so that in the short and medium term we can contribute effectively and significantly in supporting industry, commerce, quality culture, conscious consumption and, of course, integration faster, more balanced and inclusive region”, he reinforced.
The meeting is a joint event between the SADC Secretariat and the National Institute of Quality Infrastructures – INIQ, with the support of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the Angolan Government.
The event appears to provide alternatives to the diversification of the national economy, to increase the use of technical standards and regulations, measuring instruments and traceable measures, as well as accreditation and conformity assessment.
It also serves as an instrument to support the process of implementing the SADC Free Trade Area, aiming to facilitate intra-regional and continental trade, with the aim of boosting product exports.
The meeting takes place annually and takes place in the country, within the framework of the rotating SADC presidency that Angola currently holds.
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