24 April 2014
The Minister of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives has today handed over new laboratory equipment to the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) at the UNBS head office, Nakawa Industrial area.

This is one of the outputs under the Quality Infrastructure and Standards Program (QUISP). QUISP is a five year programme that started in 2010 to promote the use of quality infrastructure and standards to improve the competitiveness of Uganda’s products, processes and service delivery systems in domestic, regional and international markets. QUISP is jointly supported by the Embassy of Sweden and TradeMark Africa (TMA).

Speaking at the event, the Executive Director UNBS Eng. Dr. Ben Manyindo expressed his gratitude receiving the equipment, valued at USD $1million following a grant agreement signed by the Ministry of Trade and TradeMark Africa in October 2011,to support (QUISP). With this equipment UNBS capacity to verify quality by testing more products was greatly enhanced.

William Ssali, Chairman National Standard Council (second right) receives new laboratory equipment on behalf of the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) from Hon. Amelia Kyambadde, Uganda Minister of Trade (3rd left) during a hand over ceremony held at the UNBS offices yesterday. Looking on are Ulf Ekdahl, First Secretary Embassy of Sweden (extreme left) Allen Asiimwe, TMA Country Director (2nd left) and Ben Manyindo, Executive Director UNBS (right)

“Due to limited capacity, we have been overwhelmed by the traders and industrialists’ samples brought for testing; the test results process has been taking so long, but with this new equipment UNBS will be able to reduce turnaround time by more than 50%. The accuracy of the test results will also be greatly improved by the state of the art equipment, most of which is computerised” he remarked.

The equipment is meant to increase the capacity of UNBS in testing of products and calibration of measuring equipment across the country. This means that UNBS can now do more comprehensive tests for both locally manufactured and imported products in order to safeguard consumers and facilitate trade and growth of local industries especially the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

The consignment handed over today includes a state of the art cement testing facility that will increase UNBS cement testing capacity, and steel bar testing machine that will test steel bars used in construction. This will be good news for exporters of steel products who can now test and verify if their products meet regional and international quality standards. It will also enable UNBS closely regulate the steel industry. Other equipment include; moisture content testing kits for grains- important for testing grain quality during storage and kits used to test the accuracy of electricity meters for commercial and domestic electricity consumers.

The Minister of Trade and also Guest of Honour, Honourable Amelia Kyambadde said: “Procurement of this equipment is a major milestone for Ugandans. Quality product standards are crucial to facilitating trade, industrial development, protecting the health and safety of society and the environment. Ugandan products will attain the regional standard requirements to position themselves competitively in the region and the international market. I want to thank again our development partners TradeMark Africa and the Swedish Government who have supported the Government of Uganda to meet the various Regional and International Trade Agreements, which include the EAC and COMESA Standards, Metrology, Accreditation and Conformity Assessment (SMCA) Policies.”

Ms Allen Asiimwe, TMA Country Director-Uganda reiterated that the partnership with QUISP and the UNBS was a clear manifestation of TMAs commitment to growing prosperity in East Africa through trade.“We are excited at the thought that all locally manufactured and imported products can be tested and found to meet the required quality standards. For Ugandan products, this opens up opportunities for them to favourably compete in the regional and international markets. We anticipate a marked reduction in the time taken to test and confirm products both for import and export and ultimately a reduced cost to the business community and consumers. We would like to acknowledge the support we receive from our funders in Uganda– the United Kingdom, Sweden and the Netherlands through whom this grant has been made possible”

Deusdedit Mubangizi,UNBS Manager (left)Testing explains to Hon. Amelia Kyambadde, Uganda Minister of Trade how the Test System for Electricity Meters works.

UNBS staff is to undergo training to acquire skills in effectively using the newly acquired equipment to its full capacity.

For more information please contact
Maggie Lukowe
Email: mlukowe@unbs.go.ug
Tel:0414286123

Source: TradeMark Africa (TMA)

TradeMark Africa (TMA) is an aid-for-trade organisation that was established with the aim of growing prosperity in East Africa through increased trade. TradeMark Africa (TMA) operates on a not-for-profit basis and is funded by the development agencies of the following countries: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, UK, and USA. TradeMark Africa (TMA) works closely with East African Community (EAC) institutions, national governments, the private sector and civil society organisations.