EU funds NSI twinning project with 27m

Staff Reporter

The Minister of Industrialisation and Trade (MIT), Lucia Ipumbu launched the European Union (EU) funded twinning project titled ‘Providing support to the Namibia Standards Institution’ in Windhoek.
The two-year twinning project aims to boost the NSI’s capacity to carry out its mandate and increase Namibia’s involvement in international trade. This is the first EU Twinning Project of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Twinning Project is part of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) Implementation Plan for Namibia and is supported to the tune of N$27 million.
In her keynote address, Lucia Iipumbu applauded all stakeholders involved, as this is the first step in achieving the revised National Quality Policy 2020-2025 by ensuring that locally manufactured products meet international standards.
“With the Twinning Project in motion, Namibia will undoubtedly build a strong foundation for the development and enhancement of new and existing partnerships to international trade agreements and boost the market environment,’’ she said.
The project is jointly implemented by a consortium of eight German and Swedish institutes with experience in trade policy, technical regulation, food safety, standardisation, accreditation, metrology, and conformity assessment.
NSI and MIT are the project’s primary beneficiaries.
Speaking at the occasion, the EU Ambassador to Namibia Sinikka Antila, narrated how twinning is a special concept by the European Union to enhance institutional collaboration between public administrations in EU member states and beneficiary or partner nations.
Through peer-to-peer operations, twinning programmes combine the public sector expertise of the EU member states and recipient countries to provide concrete, mandatory operational outcomes.