UNIDO and Switzerland present Global Quality and Standards Programme

GENEVA, 26 September 2018 – The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has organized an event to introduce the Global Quality and Standards Programme (GQSP) to representatives from the main Swiss quality infrastructure institutions and representatives from national standards bodies from six countries: Colombia, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Peru, South Africa and Ukraine.

The GQSP is a large-scale programme, with a total budget of CHF 17.35m, designed to encourage systematic trade development along specific value chains by strengthening quality infrastructure institutions and service providers, enhancing the compliance capacity of private sector actors, particularly small and medium enterprises, and creating a culture of quality among all stakeholders.

The GQSP is funded by the Swiss Confederation, through the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and is implemented by UNIDO. In its initial phase, the GQSP will cover eight countries: Colombia, Ghana, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Peru, South Africa, Ukraine and Vietnam.

During the event, Urs Fischer, Chief Executive Officer of the Swiss Association for Standardization (SNV) and Bobjoseph Mathew, Vice-Director of the Federal Institute of Metrology of Switzerland (METAS), introduced their institutions, mandate and main functions in view of future cooperation.

“Active participation and collaboration of all stakeholders in the implementation of this large-scale programme is essential to achieve sustainable impact,” stated Bernardo Calzadilla-Sarmiento, Director of UNIDO’s Trade, Investment and Innovation Department (TII).

During the event, the TII Knowledge Hub, an interactive online platform, was launched and introduced. The online platform was developed with the support of Finland and the Swiss Confederation. It provides the latest news and features upcoming events, offers a range of interactive web tools, shares knowledge and publications and includes a training platform. It is envisaged to expand the TII Knowledge Hub in the future with additional interactive web tools, training and other features.

Click here to go to the TII Knowledge Hub.

For more information: Mr. Bernardo Calzadilla-Sarmiento (B.Calzadilla [at] unido.org)