MBABANE – The Kingdom of Eswatini is in the process of getting the country’s infrastructure legislation standards to first world status. This is partly because of the further integration of Eswatini in to the global economy through the African Continental Free Trade Area.
Speaking to the media, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade Manqoba Khumalo emphasized the importance of reaching objectively high quality standards in infrastructure to improve economic productivity in the country.
“We looked at the global quality infrastructure and did a benchmarking against that. We then concluded to change our legislation based on that process. This is why we brought the amendment of standards and quality bill today. We want to make it such the accreditation of laboratories is not done by the Eswatini Standards Association, since they create the standards,” revealed Minister Khumalo.
Minister Khumalo further emphasized that their research had shown that separating the setting of standards from the accreditation has been beneficial for most countries’ industries.
“We also have the Technical Regulatory and Quality Infrastructure Bill”, revealed Minister Khumalo. “This governs how the different organisations work as they execute their mandates,” added Minister Khumalo.
Minister Khumalo concluded by emphasizing that this exercise will result in Eswatini having access to more markets in Africa and abroad.
