Accra, Jan. 19, –The Ghana
Standards Authority is spearheading efforts to seek effective ways the Textile
industry in Ghana can improve market access under the African Growth and
Opportunity Act (AGOA) through adherence
to standards.
Since the introduction of AGOA in
2000, Ghana has been unable to make effective utilisation of the benefits from
the preferential scheme that has the potential to help Ghanaian businesses
expand and create jobs, while also promoting the growth of entrepreneurship
with a special emphasis on young Ghanaians.
The United States is the world’s
largest consumer and importer of wearing apparel, bringing in $90 billion worth
of apparel products in 2015. This represents an increase of 33 per cent in just
six years, compared to the depressed import levels caused by the 2009 global
recession.
Already, the Ministry of Trade
and Industry has taken the opportunity to develop a new strategic approach for
utilising Ghana’s preferential market access to the US markets through the
AGOA, which was renewed for a ten year period in 2015 through 2025 by an act of
the United States Congress.
Speaking at a stakeholders
meeting on the textile and garment sector in Ghana, Professor Alex Dodoo,
Director General of GSA, said the textile and garment sector was a big growth
area for Ghana and it could help create jobs and wealth for practitioners in
the sector.
“We‘ve had AGOA but a lot of our
activities have been more technical and this does not transform into business
to lift our people out of poverty,” he said.
Prof Dodoo said a key factor
inhibiting access to AGOA was lack of adherence to standards, adding that GSA
as the national metrology institute has the ability to support industry to be
able to develop world class standards to ensure that practitioners can sell
their textiles anywhere else.
“The GSA knows what it takes to
test fabrics to ensure they do not contain banned substances, including dyes
and to ensure that the products are acceptable in the US and the European
market,” he said.
“The GSA has men and women in
place and the skills to come out with sizes for Ghanaian clothes, necessary
dress sizes reflect,” he added.
Prof Dodoo said the GSA would
support dressmakers and tailors to understand the reasons why measurement was
critical in their job to enable them to capture the global market.
He said it was important for
Ghana to have its own standards but matched them to global standards and it is
in this direction that the GSA would establish an equipment hub because
the equipment needed for accurate measurement are expensive for manufacturers.
Mr Kofi Nagetey, Deputy Director
General Operations GSA, said to be an effective player in the International
market, textiles and garment manufacturers need to get the necessary equipment
to give them accurate and precise measurement.
He said the equipment must also
be calibrated constantly to ensure the attainment of accurate measurement.
Mr Charles Amoako, Deputy
Director General Conformity Assessment, urged the manufacturers to ensure that
they complied with domestic and international market standards before exporting
their goods.
This, he said, would enable them
to compete effectively in the market, adding that compliance to standards also
assure buyers of the quality of the product.
Other issues touched on were the
need to address the size factor for the clothing to meet the demands of the
international buyers.
GNA
No comments:
Post a Comment