Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS) and Mozambican Standards body, Instituto Nacional de Normalização e Qualidade (INNOQ) officials are upbeat that their collaboration will reduce the cost of doing business, facilitate trade, and regional integration.

MBS is from Monday this week hosting INNOQ officials on a week-long exchange visit which among other outcomes, is expected to ensure conformity of standards in goods and certification.

Director General for the Malawi Bureau of Standards, Dr. Bernard Thole, said on Monday, the exchange visit by their Mozambican counterparts will harmonize their operations.

“We will come up with a mutual recognition arrangement, so that our certification marks and our testing results are accepted in Mozambique. Similarly, our testing marks are accepted in Mozambique. For us to be able to do that, they need to understand our processes and we also need to understand their processes so that we make them comparable, said Thole.

David Magaya, Director of Metrology at Mozambican Standards body, INNOQ, who spoke on behalf of the leader of delegation, said this will bring trust in operations between the two entities.

“Once the product is assessed in Malawi, we will not conduct new tests in Mozambique, because we will trust the tests that our colleagues in Malawi have done,” he said.

Secretary to the Ministry of Transport (MoTPW), Madalo Nyambose described the exchange visit under the World Bank funded Southern Africa Trade and Connectivity Project (SATCP), as critical for the economies of the two nations.

She said apart from ensuring conformity of standards in goods and certification, the visit is critical for the economies of the two nations by reducing trade barriers and building infrastructure critical for trade in the southern African region.

“As MoTPW we are excited because it shows progress in the implementation of the project.”

The exchange visit, under the World Bank funded –SATCP is expected to reduce barriers to trade and improve infrastructure and regional integration between Malawi and Mozambique on the Nacala Corridor.