Businesses are encouraged to adhere to global quality standards in order to propel Ghana to the forefront of the international market.
This, according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry will give the country a competitive edge as the country makes efforts in scaling up value addition strategies for its exported raw commodities.
Global trade is increasingly integrated into value chains and governed by quality and standards requirements.
As part of moves to ensure compliance, the global quality and standards program Ghana component is being implemented to improve the quality standards, particularly in the cocoa, cashew and palm oil value chains to bolster production.
The Minister of Trade and Industry, K.T Hammond in a speech read on his behalf at an International Standards Organization forum impressed on businesses not to relent on compliance efforts in meeting international standards of trade.
“We want to see regulatory authorities work with businesses to be able to support them with the right information and facilitation to ensure businesses open up,” the Chief Director of the Ministry, Patrick Yaw Nimo said.
“We live in a very rapidly changing world where technical requirements are always coming up and if you are a business and you keep abreast of that you end up having a parallel process of growth that the market does not necessarily absorb,” he added.
On her part, the Deputy Head of Mission for the Swiss Embassy to Ghana, Dr. Simone Haeberli pledged the Swiss government’s commitment in training SMEs and Farmer groups to achieve economic growth.
“As we transition into the post-programme phase, we remain committed to providing ongoing support and assistance through the Ghana Private Sector Competitiveness Programme and we hope this will culminate in making the Ghanaian SME landscape and the nation’s export potential,” she assured.