CROSQ BNSI MEETING TO FOCUS ON COMPETITIVENESS IN THE REGION

“Promotion of Small and Medium Sized Enterprise Competitiveness in the Caribbean through Technical Standards” will be examined next Tuesday, November 28, when the Caribbean Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ) meets with stakeholders to discuss the topic.

The meeting will be held in collaboration with the Business Development Unit of the Ministry of Commerce, Consumer Affairs and Business Development, the Barbados National Standards Institution (BNSI) and the Inter-America Development Bank.

The half-day event, which will take place at the Savannah Hotel, Hastings, Christ Church, will seek to “boost the competitiveness of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in CARICOM in order to facilitate the export of goods and services and the process of integration in the region, the hemisphere and the wider world”.

BNSI Director (Ag), Anthea Ishmael, said: “The project will underscore and build awareness of the importance of standardisation and conformity assessment to SMEs among interested private sector or regional stakeholders.”

Minister of Commerce, Consumer Affairs and Business Development, Senator Lynette Eastmond, will deliver the feature address at the meeting.

Benefits to be derived from the project include: improved knowledge and awareness of the benefits of technical standardisation among SMEs and the public sector; and increased levels of implementation of technical standards among SMEs.