The ministry, together with its implementation agent Namibian Standards Institution (NSI), as well as United Nation’s agency, UNIDO began consultations with a number of public and private sector organizations as part of the review of the National Quality Policy (NQP) document, on Monday.
The current NQP document was revisited by all relevant stakeholders and conformity assessment experts through a series of workshops held in 2013 and 2014.
Speaking on behalf of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and SME Development, Maria Pogisho, Deputy Director of Commerce, said that the policy seeks to streamline the work of all quality related institutions and coordinate all elements of the National Quality Infrastructure (NQI) to ensure the supply of quality goods and services for local consumption and exports.
“The policy is aimed to improve Namibia’s international competitiveness and lead to enhanced export performance,” she said.
She added that the policy further aims to ensure protection of consumers in Namibia through providing quality services and products.
Elsie Meintjies, Chief Technical Advisor to the UNIDO Trade Capacity Building Program said that the national quality infrastructure is the collection of public and private institutions providing standardization, metrology, conformity assessment services and accreditation.
Furthermore, she said, one such way to protect the Namibian economy is the development of a technical regulations framework. Enditem
Source: Xinhua/News Ghana
