The Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) on Friday wrapped up a three-day meeting of twenty-five marketing and communications representatives from Bureaux of Standards across the 16 CARICOM member states.
According to a GNBS release, the meeting, which was held at its Sophia, Georgetown location during October 26-28, 2022, featured members of the CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ) Marketing Information Knowledge Management and Education (MIKE) committee, and INDOCAL (Dominican Institute for Quality) of the Dominican Republic. The MIKE Council Representative and Director of the St. Kitts and Nevis Bureau of Standards, Stuart La Place, and Director of The Bahamas Bureau of Standards Dr Renae Ferguson-Bufford were also in attendance.
The MIKE Committee is one of the technical committees of CROSQ which advises on and implement strategies to promote the Quality Infrastructure (QI) within the CARIFORUM Region.
The three-day workshop, which was funded under the 11th European Development Fund – EPA Programme – TBT Component, was facilitated by Technical Officer at CROSQ, Latoya Burnham.
The release informed that over the course of the meeting, crucial aspects and initiatives relating to the MIKE committee were discussed including the National Quality Awards Schemes under development by some Bureaus; the development of a policy for the sharing of technical and other information amongst Member States, and a review of the Committee’s Strategic Plan.
Executive Director (Ag) of the GNBS, Ramrattie Karan who spoke at the opening, acknowledged that CROSQ has been a reliable partner of the GNBS and has assisted with many notable initiatives including the National Quality Awards (NQA) Programme, the hosting of stakeholders’ sensitization sessions, and providing support to the Bureau as it works with companies to implement National and International Standards.
“No doubt, the GNBS is grateful for the funding and assistance provided by this regional body, which has significantly helped the Bureau to meet its obligations to promote standards and quality in Guyana.” She also lauded the MIKE Committee for creating awareness on QI services in the CARICOM region.
Meanwhile, the Chairperson of the MIKE Committee, Samantha Banner of Belize noted that the intent of the Committee is to create a pool of human and other resources which can be used to further promote quality in the region. “Despite the challenges, I believe we are all visionary experts with a wealth of creativity and innovation ready to take quality from the Caribbean to the world,” Banner was quoted as saying.
On day two, Elections for new Committee Executives was held and Guyana was elected to chair the MIKE Committee for the next two years. The GNBS representative on that committee, Syeid Ibrahim remarked that he was happy that the GNBS and Guyana were continuously making impacts at the regional level, and pledged to continue sharing knowledge with other Standards Bureaux.
On day three, participants benefitted from a training on digital marketing and social media management, which was identified as one of the priority areas for action, given current global trends.
The GNBS stated that it was looking forward to working with CROSQ and the regional Standards Bureaux to promote quality products and services across CARICOM.
