Ministry of Industry and Trade has advised local exporters to follow World Trade Organisation (WTO) set procedures when exporting their goods.
The ministry’s deputy director of trade Clement Phangaphanga, speaking on the sidelines of a capacity building workshop for the National Technical Barriers to Trade (NTBT) in Lilongwe last week, also advised exporters to ensure that they know more about technical barriers to trade to make their exports competitive on the global market.
He said most exporters of agricultural products complain that their goods are facing challenges because of lack of information on technical barriers to trade.
Said Phangaphanga: “People need to be made aware of the technical barriers to trade because lack of information is giving traders challenges to close deals. Most of our exports are agro-based and there are instances that buyers complain of aflatoxins in groundnuts,so it is imperative to also teach farmers skills in post-harvest handling of crops.”
Board chairperson of Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS) Action Amos said a lot of exporters lack information, hence the need for them to be aware of the technical barriers to trade.
“We want to build capacity of the national consultative committee on the technical barriers to trade and, in turn, the committee members will relay the information to exporters,” he said.
MBS receives technical support from United States Agency for International Development (Usaid) Southern Africa Trade Hub under the Usaid partnership for trade facilitation programme.
The support helps to strengthen legal and regulatory framework for standards and implementation of an effective technical barriers to trade enquiry point.
