Govt sensitises firms on WAD
Pini Bothoko | Wednesday June 11, 2014 06:00
Serame, whose portfolio covers the Economic Diversification Drive (EDD), was speaking at Adansonia Hotel on Monday, during the commemoration of World Accreditation Day (WAD).
This year the commemoration was held under the theme, ‘Accreditation: Delivering Confidence in the Provision of Energy’.
Serame said that the commemoration was meant to raise awareness on the importance and benefits of accreditation in economic development and this year they wanted to reach out to key organisations in the northern part of the country.
She said that this year’s theme focused on the role accreditation played in providing confidence in the provision of energy. The theme was motivated by global challenges faced by governments and the private sector on how energy could be provided to more people, she said, whilst assisting businesses to conserve resources and tackle climate change.
“Globally, energy is the engine of industrial growth where the pace of industrialisation increases the demand for energy, coupled with the increasing number of households and businesses that use energy as the world becomes more industrialised,” she said.
Serame said that therefore the need to provide robust energy infrastructure in the SADC region was increasingly becoming urgent to ensure adequate provision of energy resources.
She said that the theme should motivate and inspire citizens of Botswana to double their efforts in ensuring that they have sufficient energy resources to drive all sectors of the economy.
“We still import most of our energy resources, therefore it is imperative for us as a country to accelerate implementation strategies and programmes that will ensure that we attain national energy security.
“I am pleased to inform you that government continues to invest heavily in this sector on a number of projects. We are therefore confident that we will achieve national energy security,” said Serame. She said accreditation provided testing and inspection of goods and services produced and used by the industry and the energy sector.
She said testing and calibration laboratories, certification bodies and inspection bodies could evaluate these.
Serame said that accrediting organisations, which are performing such tasks, brought confidence in the market place. She added that quality and safe products that meet energy efficiency goals are used for their intended purpose.
She said that it also supported a number of government initiatives including the EDD, where government aims to build capacity within the industry to ensure that production of goods and services meet the required quality standards. She said that such support enhanced the competitiveness and acceptability of goods and services for both the local and export markets.
Serame went on to say that the Southern African Development Community Accreditation Service (SADCAS) has accredited 24 facilities in member countries with Botswana having four accredited facilities.
“It is a notable achievement and it goes to show that SADCAS is making strides towards international recognition,” she said.
Two organisations, Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) and BOBS Industrial Metrology Unit laboratory presented on the critical energy and accreditation issues as well as educating other companies on the benefits of accreditation in a company.
The seventh WAD was organised by SADCAS, Botswana Bureau of Standards (BOBS) ISO/IEC 17025 and the National Accreditation Focal Point (NAFP).