The Sunday News
Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
THE Standard Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ) says under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), economic players need to become more innovative, efficient, produce products that are of good quality, and sell them competitively in terms of prices.
In a presentation to businesses on improving competitiveness and standards for market access under the AfCFTA, SAZ director- general Dr Christine Gadzikwa said economic players need to be more innovative under the AfCFTA.
She said trade of goods and services could best be understood through the lense of agreeing on a set of values and norms.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has shed light on the importance of quality infrastructure for resilience and that standards can impact trade and affect access to essential medical technologies across the globe. Under the AfCFTA, economic players need to become more innovative, efficient, produce products that are of good quality, and sell their products competitively in terms of price,” said Dr Gadzikwa.
Dr Gadzikwa said the role of standards and quality infrastructure could not be over emphasised under the single multi-lateral trading market.
“Quality infrastructure supports trade and development by helping producers ensure compliance with standards and quality requirements in foreign markets. The African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO) plays a key role in the development of standardisation policies, applying existing principles and procedures that are already set out in the African Standards Harmonisation Model (ASHAM),” she said.
The SAZ director-general further noted that quality infrastructure included institutions as well as the legal and regulatory frameworks for standardisation, accreditation, metrology and conformity assessment. She said the Covid-19 pandemic had affected the regulatory landscape for African producers, while some gaps had been identified and the role of quality infrastructure in bridging these and boosting resilience.
“In Africa, around 60 million jobs were lost in the second quarter of 2020 with close to 40 million people pushed back into extreme poverty by the end of the year. The Covid-19 pandemic has helped make the case for improvements in quality infrastructure and highlighted the decisive influence of standards and regulations to the supply and access to essential medical equipment,” said Dr Gadzikwa.
She said ARSO, together with other regional quality infrastructure organisations, have an important role to play in achieving the objectives of the AFCFTA.
“In Africa, bridging gaps in quality infrastructure is vital for promoting recovery through trade, sustainable development and supporting countries in withstanding the social and economic impact of future pandemics,” said Dr Gadzikwa.
She said existing gaps in the standards compliance infrastructure in Africa, and exchange experiences on technical assistance initiatives will improve quality infrastructure on the continent with a view of boosting regional and international trade and promoting sustainable and resilient economies. To deliver on the AfCFTA’s objective and boost Africa’s trade, Dr Gadzikwa said investments and global competitiveness in the agreement included an Annex on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) aimed at boosting the quality of African goods and their integration into continental and global value chains.
“Business players need to study so that they can develop a technical barrier to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary non-tariff measures database in SADC member states. Under the multilateral trading agreement, 55 countries have come together to agree on a common language (standards that will apply to all who are trading),” she said.
The Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) in conjunction with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) conducted the training workshop on AfCFTA to assist Zimbabwean business understand the ambitious undertaking that brings together 1,3 billion people in 55 African countries to create the world’s largest free trade area as measured by the number of participating member States.
