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10.04.2007 Business & Finance

GSB To Co-operate With Nigerian Counterpart

10.04.2007 LISTEN
By Daily Graphic

The Ghana Standards Board (GSB) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with its Nigerian counterpart, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), to co-operate and collaborate on issues of standardisation.

The MOU paves the way for the two standards organisations to work .towards the harmonisation of standards and conformity assessment, technical assistance, as well as training and internship, within the two countries

“In fact, it is meant to fast-track the creation of a borderless zone and/or free trade area under the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme,” the Executive Director of the GSB, Mr Adu Gyamfi Darkwa, said at the signing ceremony in Accra.

The two countries are seen as the biggest trading countries in the ECOWAS region and any increased collaboration in trade between them could have rippling effects on the entire sub-region.

Mr Darkwa said in order to facilitate smooth transactions in the global market, it was important to ensure mutual understanding, compatibility, protection of health, safety and the environment.

He explained that the absence of those factors created barriers to trade, stating that standardisation was meant to eliminate the barriers.

The Director of SON, Mr John O. Achukwu, who signed on behalf of SON, said the MOU would help ensure and maintain quality manufacturing of goods by the two countries,

adding that it would help to strengthen the bonds of partnership between the them.

Ultimately, he said, it would enable all locally-manufactured goods to be freely traded without inhibition.

Story by Maria Alberto Viala

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