Standards Alliance Support grows to include Trade Africa.

Press Release Summary:



Standards Alliance, ANSI's public-private partnership with U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has been expanded to allow ANSI to engage with 5 additional countries in sub-Saharan Africa: Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mozambique, Senegal, and Zambia. Partnership expansion provides technical assistance to developing countries specifically related to implementation of the WTO Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreement. Expansion was made possible through Trade Africa initiative.



Original Press Release:



ANSI Announces Standards Alliance Support for Trade Africa



New countries to be added to the Standards Alliance



The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is pleased to announce an expansion of the Standards Alliance, ANSI’s public-private partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) that provides technical assistance to developing countries specifically related to implementation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreement. The expanded scope of the Standards Alliance will allow ANSI to engage with five additional countries in sub-Saharan Africa: Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mozambique, Senegal, and Zambia.



This exciting new expansion is made possible through the Trade Africa initiative. Trade Africa is a partnership between the United States and sub-Saharan states to expand regional trade within Africa, and expand trade and economic links among Africa, the United States, and other major global markets.



In May 2013 USAID and ANSI entered into a public-private partnership to coordinate subject matter experts from the private sector–led U.S. standardization system in the delivery of training and other technical assistance to Standards Alliance countries.



To date, ANSI has engaged in ten countries and regions under the Standards Alliance, including those in the East African Community (EAC) and Southern African Development Community (SADC). The work plans in these regions have included successful activities such as:



• EAC Workshop on TBT Notifications and Public Consultation (Tanzania, August 2014)



• Training on effective ISO participation for Lesotho, Malawi, and Zambia (Lesotho, April 2015)



• U.S.SADC Exchange on Good Regulatory Practices (South Africa, June 2015)



In 2015 the U.S. announced it would expand Trade Africa beyond the East African Community to include five more countries Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mozambique, Senegal, and Zambia. In support of the Trade Africa goals related to improving compliance with WTO TBT obligations, the Standards Alliance will develop work plans for TBT-related assistance with each of the five countries, which together represent a combined market of approximately $137 billion and 102 million people. In launching the engagement with the new Trade Africa countries, ANSI will work with USAID missions in the countries, counterpart standards bodies, donor organizations, and U.S. stakeholders from government and the private sector to develop a tailored work plan of activities.



ANSI looks forward to building upon its engagement in sub-Saharan Africa to support the goals of Trade Africa and the needs of the partner countries, as well as U.S. industry priorities. For more information about the Standards Alliance, please see http://standardsalliance.ansi.org or contact standardsalliance@ansi.org. Organizations interested in participating in activities with any Standards Alliance partner country are invited to download the background document and template proposal for new activities, which includes information about selection criteria and the timeline for review of proposals. Additional information about the work plan development for new countries will be posted to the website soon.

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