Papua New Guinea should have a strong team for negotiations at the World Trade Organization when it comes to the standards of the country in relation to trading with others. This is according to the National Institute of Standards and Industrial Technology (Nisit).
Director-general Victor Gabi said that the multilateral trading systems among countries should be looked at. “What we are having in terms of trading negotiations is that countries have the upper hand in trading with us, so when you go through a free trade agreement with a number of countries, they seem to get the better of PNG because they bring in a lot of products,” he said. “They beat us with the trade numbers. For instance our bilateral trade with Australia; they kill us hands down with the number of products coming to us, we have very little going to them. And that’s because of issues with technical areas of trade and one of the key areas of trade is standards.”
He added, “You can have something to sell but it’s the buyers’ choice, hence the features of your products need to meet some standards in order for them (buyers) to be able to buy your products. Whatever (businesses) that the people are doing, they must make standards important because, at the end of the day, their buyer is interested in that.”
Gabi also highlighted how businesses should ask advice from Nisit regarding the quality of their products.
