BUJUMBURA, November 20th (ABP) – The Great Lakes Region Trade Facilitation and Integration Project (PFCIGL) supports BBN in the processes of accreditation of its laboratories and certification of its services by issuing certification in accordance with national, regional and international standards, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Trade; Transport and Industry and Tourism, Christine Niragira said on Tuesday, November 19, 2024.
It was during a workshop to validate the provisional report of the technical and institutional audit of the Burundian Bureau for Standardization and Quality Control (BBN) in terms of certification. The workshop was organized by the Ministry of Commerce in collaboration with the BBN through the PFCIGL for senior government officials and representatives of cross-border traders, a check on the site by ABP revealed.
Niragira first recalled that the workshop aimed to collect solid recommendations and technical contributions from all stakeholders on the comprehensive inventory of the BBN in terms of certification.
According to her, if this report is validated, it will contribute to establishing a comprehensive inventory of the BBN in terms of certification, clarifying the reforms or projects in progress financed by the government of Burundi and other partners. She added that it will also contribute to assessing the support needs that the PFCIGL will be able to finance to support the BBN in the accreditation processes of its laboratories and the certification of its services by issuing certification in accordance with national, regional and international standards.
For his part, the Director General of BBN, Jérémie Ngenzahayo, noted that development partners, including the World Bank through the PFCIGL, are committed to raising the level of competence of the national standardization organization, which serves as a driving force in the production of quality goods and services in various strategic and priority sectors of Burundi. These include agro-industry, agriculture, trade, tourism, culture, the mining sector as well as information and communication technologies.
In terms of that report which will be validated, he said, the BBN will benefit from material technical assistance as well as operational capacity building of staff, without ignoring the intervention in the mastery of value chains at all the links with which the BBN intervenes as a national standardization body. In order to strengthen the performance of the BBN, he continued to say, many actions will be undertaken for a better contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Burundi, among others, to make a diagnosis of priority products and promoters in increasing the export flow, to deduce the axis of intervention of the BBN at each link in the value chain taken as a priority as well as to measure the material and technical capacity of the BBN in its quality of quality control.
He thanked the PFCIGL management unit which continues to work day and night so that the BBN is like the other standardization offices of the East African community.
For her part, the coordinator of the PFCIGL, Clotilde Nizigama recalled that the PFCIGL has a series of activities intended to support producers and traders of selected products to meet the requirements of various types of certification of their products intended for export.
The consultant Raymond Teguze, who presented that report, pointed out that the latter shows some needs of the BBN. These include the improvement of infrastructure, the capacity building among the staff of that organization in the specific field, as well as the development of the action plan. He also indicated that at the technical level the BBN needs laboratory equipment to properly verify the products. Note that this report has not been validated and the participants recommended the consultant to continue his research because the report did not show the solutions proposed for the needs of the BBN, and it did not also mention the challenges hunting that organization. It was also recommended to improve his research in order to present solutions for the smooth running of the activities of the BBN in order to facilitate cross-border traders.