UK Government Partners SON on Capacity Building

The UK Government, through the Commonwealth Standards Network (CSN) and the Global Trade Programme (GTP), has implemented technical training activity on standards development for Nigerian Standards Agencies.

The Head of Prosperity, British Deputy High Commission, Mr. Guy Harrison, said the UK government was committed to the partnership with the federal government, to promote an inclusive economic growth, by providing technical assistance to improve the country’s trading capabilities.

He said it has championed the design of different programmes to deliver specific technical assistance to Nigeria to eliminate non-tariff barriers to trade.

The event also witnessed the signing of an MoU between the British Standards Institute (BSI) and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON).

Speaking at the event, the Director of Standards Development of the SON, Mrs. Chinyere Egwuonwu said, “with this MoU, both agencies have agreed to share information to support standards development and improvement, to design capacity building activities to promote standards capabilities, and disseminate information on export and import standards requirements for both countries.”

The Head of International Engagement, BSI, Mr. Peter Sissons said as the business improvement company and UK National Standards Body, it signed the MoU with SON, the national Standards Body of Nigeria, to advance cooperation between both organisations.

The agreement was to share good practice between the two organisations, promote productivity and efficiency, reduce costs and barriers to trade between the UK and Nigeria, by increasing the use of standards.

Confirming this, the UK Global Trade Programme Manager, Obosi Philip, noted that the training activity and MoU would translate to a more capable standard bodies in Nigeria, with access to global standards development programmes and wider standards information sharing platforms. This would in effect, promote export of Made-in-Nigeria products to the UK and the World.

According to Obosi, the new drive will see to the involvement of measures, which will help in the acceptances of Nigeria products in the international market, saying: “What the country has experienced in recent times with the rejection of our products in international markets will now be addressed with the follow-up activities from the signing of the MoU , it will create a good opportunity for those responsible to do the right thing and I am optimistic it will be for the good of the country as well as boost our trade relationships.”

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