Sierra Leone Standards Bureau impresses Acting Minister of Trade and Industry. The Acting Minister of Trade and Industry, Alie Badara Mansaray last week paid a preliminary visit to the Sierra Leone Standards Bureau at Wahman Abu Compound, Kelsey Road, Ferry Junction in Freetown. The Minister’s visit was geared towards assessing the completion of the State of the art infrastructure known as the Metrology Testing and Calibration Laboratory which is expected to be commissioned by the President of Sierra Leone. Addressing members of the Standards Council and Staff of the Sierra Leone Standards Bureau, the Acting Minister of Trade and Industry, said he was delighted over his preliminary visit at the newly constructed Metrology Testing and Calibration Laboratory. “The establishment of the institution by my Ministry is to provide standardization of commodities and products as well as regulate the weights and measures activities in Sierra Leone”, H e said. The Minister further said that it was exciting to see the Sierra Leone Standards Bureau under the direct supervision of his Ministry which contributes information on quality and regulation requirements, demonstrate compliance to national standards and subsequently provide conformity assessment service to the private and public sectors of the economy. As such “The Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Sierra Leone Standards Bureau have come together to publicise and explain the important role standards play in our daily lives especially when the government of Sierra Leone introduced, adopted and implemented the Metric system of Measurement in 2011.” Hon. Badara Mansaray said Standards Bureau had succeeded in withdrawing all the hand operated pumps in the Western Area and the Provincial Headquarter towns, which were replaced by the metric comparable pumps that dispense in litres, in the petroleum sector, adding “...plans are underway to implement the metric system in the commerce and general trade sector before finally going metric in manufacturing industries.” The Acting Minister of Trade and Industry, reiterated that the completion of the modern state of the art infrastructure was timely for Sierra Leone’s economy. He said modern open market economies were thriving on global trade and free movement of goods and services would be essential for the country’s economy. He continued to state that consumers all over the world must have confidence in the consistent supply of quality products and services. He noted, Sierra Leone required a well-established National Quality Infrastructure in place to develop the appropriate services that would be accepted in the domestic and export market. The Acting Minister of Trade and Industry lauded the support of the development partners such as the Quality and Compliance infrastructural Project, funded by Finland and the Norwegian Agency for Development (NORAD), and the implementing partner, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization UNIDO) for the construction of the the technical civil works. Mr. Badara Mansaray commended the Executive Director, James Saio Dumbuya and team for the cooperation and further urged them to imbibe the culture of maintenance to ensure that the equipment maintain their accuracy. The acting Trade Minister also urged SLSB Executive Director to recruit qualified and competent Sierra Leoneans to man the operations of the various laboratories and concluded that his preliminary visit was wonderful. In his brief statement, the NTC of UNIDO John Paul Kaisam highlighted UNIDO support to SLSB which includes; i. Training of the Technical and Quality Managers of the Chemical, Microbiology and Metrology labs ii. Provision of laboratory equipment to chemical, microbiology and metrology laboratories iii. Provision of chemicals, regents and culture, reference standards, etc to these laboratories iv. Development of a National Quality Policy for the country and this has officially been approved by His Excellency, our President of Sierra Leone. The vision of Sierra Leone’s National Quality Policy: “Sierra Leone aims to develop and sustain an effective and efficient Quality Infrastructure and Technical Regulation Framework that meets international standards, creates wealth and improves living standards” The objectives of the Policy are; The NTC further informed the Hon. Acting Minister that, under the Quality Policy and Compliance infrastructure Development Project which aims at “Building Quality Infrastructure for Brighter Future for Exporters and Local Consumers” the Sierra Leone Standards Bureau (SLSB) has now the State-of-art Metrology Building which is completed. The Minister was led by the SLSB Executive Director on an on the spot inspection of the various laboratories of the Sierra Leone Standards Bureau.
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 16:23:33 +0000
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