As part of efforts to seek
ways to improve market access for Ghana’s textile industry under the US African Growth
and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) will establish
an equipment hub as the tools needed for accurate measurement are expensive for
manufacturers. GSA would also make dressmakers understand the importance of
measurement.
This was announced by GSA director general Alex
Dodoo at a recent stakeholders meeting. A lot of Ghana’s activities related to
AGOA have been more technical, which did not transform into business, he said. Since the introduction of AGOA in
2000, Ghana has been unable to make effective utilisation of the benefits from
the preferential scheme to expand businesses, create jobs, and promote
entrepreneurship. The United States renewed AGOA in 2015 till 2025.
A key factor inhibiting access to AGOA was lack
of adherence to standards and GSA, as the national metrology institute, has the
ability to support industry to adhere to world class standards, a news agency
from Ghana quoted Dodoo as saying. Another
crucial issue discussed at the meeting was of size to meet the demands of
international buyers.