Zambia through the Zambia Bureau of Standards (ZABS) has today handed over the role of Regional Coordinator and secretariat for the SADC Cooperation in Standardisation (SADCSTAN) to the Botswana Bureau of Standards (BOBS). The handover ceremony for the regional coordinator role took place this morning during the SADCSTAN Annual General Meeting alongside other SADC TBT Meetings being held in Gaborone Botswana.

Speaking during the handover, ZABS Acting Executive Director Nathan Sing’ambwa said ZABS was handing over the role of Regional Coordinator having successfully coordinated standardisation activities and harmonization of standards within the region for nine years. Mr Sing’ambwa noted the achievements that were scored during Zambia’s tenure as Regional Coordinator which include the harmonization of over 50 standards within the region in sectors such as transport and automotives, food and agriculture, energy and construction, tourism, electrotechnical to mention a few. He further noted the support and goodwill from cooperating partners such as UNIDO, USAID, PTB, UNEP among others, who facilitated material and technical support towards the harmonization work and the number of capacity building programs that had been undertaken within the region.

Mr Sing’ambwa challenged member states to continue demonstrating the relevance of SADCSTAN to the regional and national stakeholders by promoting the implementation of the harmonized standards. He observed that there is need to promote standards as a vehicle for regional trade as they are critical to all sustainable development efforts and the role of SADCSTAN is key in driving this agenda.

SADCSTAN is one of the structures under SADC and comprises all the 16 member states within the SADC region. The role of SADCSTAN is to facilitate exchange of information on existing standards, harmonize standards and facilitate the adoption of regional standards.