Quality standards key for region to compete globally

Barbados and other regional countries are being challenged to collaborate on improving quality standards across sectors to adequately compete with larger economies that can offer better prices and larger quantities of goods and services.
Minister of Energy and Business Development Senator Lisa Cummins issued the challenge on Monday to the Barbados National Standards Institution (BNSI) and its counterparts in Latin America and the rest of the Caribbean.
“Scale is a challenge and if we are not able to compete on volume, and you are oftentimes not able to compete on price, you have to be able to compete on quality,” she said.
Cummins was addressing the opening of the annual general assembly of the Pan American Standards Commission (COPANT) at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.
She said greater attention had to be given to building a competitive edge for the region as companies and economies emerge from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pointing to the experience, during the height of the pandemic, of countries and regional organisations working together to find solutions to common challenges, Cummins said: “We have an opportunity to work collaboratively with our ministries and agencies with responsibility for industry, trade and those with responsibility for business to ensure that we are able to pool our resources using the principles of production integration that is standards-based.”
She proposed that firms in Barbados and across the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) use existing channels and mechanisms enshrined within the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas for production integration “to be able to scale your production based on quality”.
“We do not have the capacity, if we are based on micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, to compete on volume – not if we are functioning as individual entities. But if we are functioning on a regional basis and we are functioning on the basis of quality and collaboration then we change the paradigm,” Cummins argued.
“I want to challenge the standards institutions to rationalise how, across the region and across the Americas more widely, we are able to pool our collaborative resources across the agencies that support private sector development, in particular in support of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.”
Indicating that Barbados was well on its way to achieving its target of 100 per cent reliance on renewable forms of energy by 2030, the Energy and Business Development Minister said she wanted to see the development of standards-based service level agreements in that sector across the region.
She also pointed to the need for greater use of technology and ongoing monitoring to ensure continued transformation and development.
The annual general assembly has attracted dozens of representatives of national standard institutions from the Caribbean and Latin America. Over the next three days, officials are expected to discuss and develop standards and share experiences and best practices.
Chairman of the BNSI Ryan Brathwaite underscored that high standards of goods and services were critical for innovation and economic growth.
He also pointed to the importance of harmonised standards and guidelines to enable interoperability, facilitate trade, foster innovation and ensure safety while encouraging healthy competition.
Brathwaite challenged the standards institutions to help countries achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals through the development of quality standards that promote sustainability and enhance resilience.
He singled out the promotion of renewable energy and energy efficiency as one of the areas where work has begun. He said the BNSI and its network of CARICOM standards bodies have developed a range of best practices that cover design, construction, and operation and use of renewable energy sources.
“These standards establish common criteria for performance and safety, enabling businesses and industries to innovate and compete in low-carbon economies,” the BNSI chairman said, adding that the institute will soon be developing a range of standards that promote sustainable agriculture and standards.
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