THE German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) has donated Rwf39 million to support Rwanda Bureau of Standards (RBS) in a move to create standards awareness.

The support will facilitate in training the Rwandan business community to meet the regional and international standards.

This was revealed during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between, the Director General of RBS, Dr. Mark Bagabe, and Thomas Bedenbecker, the Sector Programme Coordinator of the Sustainable Economic Development Sector on behalf of GTZ.

"The great challenge is that standards awareness in the Rwandan business community is still very low.

The support is an opportunity to remind the community that we are in a global market,” said Bagabe shortly after the signing ceremony.

He added that the training will be demand-driven, adding that RBS had received requests to train people in honey production, coffee, tea, banana beer, maize and cassava flour and targets to certify about 24 products by the end of this year.

"Certification is paramount in business because it’s a sign of confidence and therefore gives a positive impact to the product or service,” he said.

The MoU will focus on raising the awareness of the Rwandan business community on existing norms and standards, supporting RBS to streamline certification procedures, scaling up of RBS quality branding, and integration of norms and standards into skills development.

Bedenbecker said the two-year programme support which started last year will also facilitate trade promotion, safety and environmental protection.

He added that the two organisations had discussed new areas of cooperation for the 2011/2012 fiscal year.

Currently 600 stakeholders have been trained in 13 training sessions addressing various sectors of the economy.

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