Arusha — Tanzania has joined its East African Community (EAC) partners– Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi– in increasing the pace in harmonisation of local product standards, ready to take advantage of the soon to be introduced Free Trading Area next December.

The Director of Trade at the EAC Secretariat in Arusha, Alhaj Rashid Kiboa, revealed here that the proposed establishment of the tripartite FTA between the EAC bloc to the South African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), would become a reality this December, 2017.

“That is why this year’s 20th Meeting of East African Standards Committee is sitting in Arusha for two days to speed up harmonization of products standards within the EAC region, ready to export goods and services across to Central and Southern parts of the continent as from 2018,” said Alhaj Kiboa.

However, he pointed out that there was still need for Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and South-Sudan to speed up the adaptation and for the Standardization Quality Assurance Metrology and Testing (SQMT) for product certification in the six partner states before venturing further continental.

On his part, the Acting Director General for Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS), Prof Egid Beatus Mubofu reveals that so far more than 100 standards had been harmonized across the region with more to be approved this year, and that it only remains for the six EAC Member States to adopt such benchmarks to ensure that all products met the required quality and quantity for exports.

Source: All Africa

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