Accreditation is part of the reciprocal Jamaica to TT trade mission

The Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards (TTBS) has received an accreditation certificate from the Jamaican National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC).

Jamaica’s Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Senator Aubyn Hill presented the certificate to the TTBS during an award ceremony held last Thursday at the Hyatt Regency in Port of Spain. The accreditation is part of the reciprocal Jamaica to TT trade mission.

T&T’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Paula Gopee-Scoon led a mission to Jamaica last November. The TTBS falls under the Ministry of Trade and Industry. Accompanying Hill on the T&T Trade Missioner were over 30 Jamaican business executives and senior government officials.

CEO of JANAAC, Sharonmae Shirley congratulated TTBS for joining a prestigious group of certification bodies worldwide validated as competent providers of auditing and certification services of management systems. She said the TTBS is the first to have this accreditation, and noted that Jamaica was internationally recognised for inspection by the accreditation services.

Benefits of the certification

The TTBS certification division will include economic sectors such as concrete, cement, lime plaster, engineering services, mining and quarrying, wholesale and retail trade, repair of vehicles and motorcycles and personal household goods, pulp, paper and paper products and printing companies.

TT News Day quotes Shirley as saying: “The accreditation of these divisions at the TTBS supports your ministry’s plans and priorities in expanding market access and deepening trade with targeted countries and markets of interest.”

Executive director of TTBS, Jose Trejo noted that the accreditation meets international standards that provide requirement for implementing and maintaining a quality management system.

According to him, “this standard provides a framework for organisations to manage and improve the quality of their products and services. It is designed to help organisations ensure that their products and services consistently meet customer requirements, and that their processes are efficient and effective”.

Jamaica is TT’s third largest trading partner with the two countries traded just over $1.2-billion worth of products with each other last year. She said TT imported flour, grape wine and condensed milk, and exported non-alcoholic beverages, chocolates and other light manufacturing products such as copper conductor products.

T&T strengthening trade promotion

“In addition to the trade missions, the government is seeking to strengthen its trade promotion efforts by establishing commercial officers and attachés in key partner countries, which include Jamaica. The process establishing these offices and attachés has commenced,” Gopee-Scoon said.

She added: “The Government is also seeking to strengthen its institutional arrangements surrounding trade and investment promotion by establishing a new trade and investment promotion agency. This agency will allow us to improve our relationship with our trading partners, including Jamaica, and provide information on the advantages of doing business with TT.”

In his speech, Hill said Jamaica went through hardships from 2012- 2015, adding: “Jamaica has grown in the last year. In 2021, our GDP grew by 8.1 per cent. Up to September last year, the second quarter of the fiscal year, we grew by 5.7 per cent. Our unemployment is at a historical low at six per cent… . When you are in emerging markets and your unemployment rate is at six per cent, you are near to full employment.”

Also present were Arthur Williams, Jamaican High Commissioner to TT; Lawford Dupres, chairman of the TTBS; Gerard Maxwell, head of the Implementation Division at the TTBS and Rodney Ramnath, manager of the Certification Division at the TTBS.