Praia, Cape Verde, 25 Feb – The Quality for West Africa program, which was launched Friday in Praia, Cape Verde, aims to contribute to the gradual integration of the different countries and the sub-region of West Africa, into the world economy.

The execution of the program, set up by the United Nations Industrial Development Program (UNIPD), in Cape Verde, is the responsibility of the Agency for Regulation and Supervision of Pharmaceutical and Food Products (ARFA) and is funded by the European Commission, to the tune of 1 million euros.

In Cape Verde the aim is to boost the competitiveness of Cap Verdean companies and ensure conformity with international trade rules and technical regulations that are currently in place, which are the result of the country’s recent joining of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

“There is a tendency these days, to standardize products in terms of quality and for Cape Verde to win that battle of competitiveness and be able to export, we have to meet those standards,” said Cape Verde’s minister for the economy, growth and competition, José Brito, for whom, this program will help cape Verde to create national capacity for this by providing the necessary support.

Brito also noted that the country was importing and exporting goods and it therefore had to protect the Cape Verdean consumer, by setting specific standards and having some capacity to control to what the country has, and, above all, have the capacity to deny entry to products that do not meet standards, of health and hygiene, for example.

Due to the success of the first quality project (2001-2005) for countries in the West African Economic and Monetary Union, the European Commission has proposed to finance a second phase for these countries, extending it to member nations of the Economic Community of West African States and Mauritania. (macauhub)