Botswana has been urged to bolster its Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs) before tapping into the international market by the Southern African Development Community Accreditation Service (SADCAS).

The CEO of SADCAS, Eve Christine Gadzikwa, said during the postponed World Accreditation Day press conference with the theme featuring Accreditation Supporting the Future of Global Trade that even though Botswana doesn’t have sufficient conformity assessment bodies, the country can still leverage the Southern African Development Community Accreditation Service.

“Our testing results are accepted globally, and we are ensuring that our technical framework is accepted globally,” said Gadzikwa.

With plans to construct an export-fuelled economy, diversifying away from mining, Botswana continues to trail others in terms of national quality infrastructure and technical, regulatory framework. This is even with the recently launched national quality policy, which is forecast to change the stance on the quality of goods and services. 

Gadzikwa added that with the use of SADCAS, Botswana would help businesses to manufacture globally recognised products in a feasible, cost-effective way, Xinhua news agency reports. 

Local businesses should also be producing quality products to access international markets, according to the managing director of the Botswana Bureau of Standards, Botsile Kebapetse.

“We have accepted that something needs to be done to the quality of our products, hence the need for the National Quality Policy (NQP),” Kebapetse stated.

Botswana launched the National Quality Policy earlier this month, after being announced last year, to boost the country’s national quality infrastructure and technical and regulatory framework.