16 Jun 2013

Ministry of Trade and Industry in collaboration with the Southern African Development Community Accreditation Services (SADCAS) on Friday commemorated the world accreditation day in Tlokweng.

Speaking at the event themed: Accreditation Facilitating World Tradeheld, deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ms Peggy Serame said accreditation provided assurance and recognition of technical competence in performing specific tasks.

She said accreditation was accepted as the most transparent and non-discriminatory mechanism that assured technical competence amongst trading partners. “Accreditation is another tool that confirms competitiveness of our products and services for both the local and export markets,” said Ms Serame.

SADCAS has 16 accredited facilities in six  SADC member states of which Botswana has three, Namibia two, Seychelles two, Tanzania three, Zambia one  and Zimbabwe four, she said. Ms Serame said SADCAS was already a part of the international accreditation family and was making strides towards international recognition.

She said Botswana had established a National Accreditation Focal Point (NAFP) under the Ministry of Trade and Industry and its responsibility included promoting the benefits of accreditation and market SADCAS activities.

SADCAS chief executive officer, Ms Maureen Mutasa said world accreditation day was a global initiative jointly established by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC). She said the day aimed at raising awareness on the importance of accreditation.

Ms Mutasa said accreditation gave formal recognition that an organisation or a person was competent to carry out specific tasks, determined the technical competence, reliability and integrity of conformity assessment bodies. SADCAS mission provided credible, cost effective, accreditation services for SADC members’ states, she said. ENDS