Business
SON, EU Trade Mission To Strengthen Relations
An EU trade delegation to Nigeria led by Mr Peter Thompson has expressed its readiness to strengthen relations with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) in areas of mutual interest.
A statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Sunday, said that the delegation stated this during a visit to Dr John Akanya, the Director-General of SON.
According to the statement signed by SON’s spokesman, Mathias Bassey, Thompson raised questions on international cooperation between SON and other international organisations.
It quoted him as seeking to know the role of SON in Nigeria’s economy in relation to the standard of goods from other countries.
The statement said that the team’s interest centred on how well trade could be enhanced among nations, particularly in the acceptability of goods in relation to standards.
According to the statement, Thompson directed the Country Director to liaise with SON for further discussions on the issues and other related matters.
In his response, Akanya pledged the readiness of the organisation to collaborate with the team.
The statement quoted him as saying that “as a standards body, SON is faced with various challenges such as well equipped laboratories for analyses, funds and tools to work with, including manpower and capacity building”.
Akanya noted that in spite of the shortcomings, SON still played a brotherly role to other West African countries by assisting them in capacity building and setting up their standards bureau.
It quoted Akanya as saying that SON needed equipment to enable it meet up with the challenges posed by technological development.