Kenya leverages Chinese technology to strengthen product standards, exports

NAIROBI, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Kenya is leveraging Chinese technology to enhance its product standards as well as export of goods and services, an official said on Tuesday.

Walter Ongeti, chief executive officer of state-owned Kenya National Accreditation Service (KENAS), told Xinhua in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi that KENAS has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment to facilitate the exchange of knowledge between the two countries.

"Our cooperation with China has enhanced the capacity of Kenyan accredited laboratories and certification bodies that inspect goods destined for the export market," Ongeti said on the sidelines of the two-day training on the accreditation of biobanks which manage biological material for research in Africa.

Ongeti noted that through cooperation with China, Kenya's product certification bodies have adopted processes and expertise at par with global standards.

He revealed that Kenya and China have also engaged in joint training on product accreditation schemes to enable mutual recognition of standards so that goods tested in Kenya do not undergo re-inspection at China's port of entry and vice versa.