BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC -The four-day General Assembly of the Bolivia-based Pan American Standards Commission (COPANT) got Monday underway with Barbados urging regional countries and organizations to continue the close collaboration had been established during the coronavirus (COVID–19) pandemic.
Energy and Business Minister Lisa Cummins also questioned why Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries could not use the mechanisms already enshrined within the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas for production integration to scale production across businesses and sectors based on quality.
“But if we are functioning on a regional basis and based on quality collaboration, then we change the paradigm…. I would love…to see many small businesses struggling to achieve scale but have benefited from your national standards institutions and are producing quality products to benefit from pooled resources.”
In outlining the importance of the Barbadian business community competing on quality standards, Cummins told the Assembly that many local businesses are in the micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises realm, and therefore the scale is a challenge.
“If you cannot compete on volume, you are often not able to compete on price, but you must be able to compete on quality. You have to ensure that that quality product is not just subjectively supported by the consumer because it looks good but delivers on the expected promise in terms of performance.
“And on that basis, we are connecting consumer satisfaction, the development of quality products, and investments in small, micro, and medium-sized enterprises with the launch of a National Quality Policy…, led by the Barbados National Standards Institution.
“The Barbados National Quality Policy is expected to develop a range of standards, all … across the business community, and I expect that with it, we will see stronger businesses and stronger products built on quality,” she told the COPANT audience that included the online and in-person audience.
She said that the Barbados National Energy Policy was being revised and would be overlaid with a national energy investment policy.
She proffered the view that there was an opportunity for officials to develop standards-based service level agreements across the renewable energy sectors. She indicated that the Barbados National Standards Institution had already commenced the work.
COPANT is a non-profit civil association with complete operational autonomy. It functions within the current standards environment as a critical hemispheric institution, seeking to harmonize standards and facilitate the proper functioning of a free trade area of the Americas. It comprises the National Standards Bodies of the Americas, with 32 active members and nine adherent members.
The Barbados National Standards Institution (BNSI) hosts the meeting here. The acting director, Haydn Rhynd, said it would allow local technocrats to engage with global standards experts in several areas.
and then  got Monday underway with Barbados){kind=link}