   
  
G/TBT/GEN/279  
 
9 January 2020  
(20-0238) Page: 1/1 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
 
AGENDA ITEM 4: TECHNICAL ASSISTAN CE 
UPDATE BY ANSI ON AC TIVITIES RELATED TO THE WORK OF THE TBT COMMITTEE  
This document contains the statement made by the United States  at the TBT Committee meeting  of 
13-15 November 2019 under Agenda Item 4.  
 
 
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1  Emphasizing the importance of effective technical assistance activities, the United States would 
like to highlight our ongoing efforts to support understanding and implementation of the TBT 
Agreement and its principles under several capacity building mecha nisms.  
 
2  First, ANSI works with African countries to promote international standards and good regulatory 
practices to support clean energy and ICT technologies, under the U.S. Trade and Development 
Agency's (USTDA) U.S. -Africa Clean Energy Standards Progra m (CESP) and U.S. -Africa Information 
and Communications Technology Program (ICTSP). In 2019, ANSI and USTDA carried out workshops 
in Senegal and South Africa and addressed subjects such as energy storage standards and regulatory 
framework, and connectivity . 
 
3  In addition, the  American National Standards Institute  (ANSI) and the U.S. Agency for 
International Development (USAID) are pleased to announce the launch of Standards Alliance: Phase 
2. The public -private partnership will  build upon the success of Phas e I to support the capacity of 
developing countries in the areas of legal and regulatory framework, standards development, 
conformity assessment procedures, and private sector engagement. The Standards Alliance Phase 
2 will remain a public -private partners hip between USAID and ANSI, and will carry out programming 
in the regions of Latin America, sub -Saharan Africa, Middle East North Africa, and Indo -Pacific.  
 
4  A key goal of Phase 2 is to help increase the capacity of developing countries to implement 
accept ed international best practices to reduce instances of poor quality and unsafe products, 
services, and infrastructure. Ultimately, better adoption and implementation of international 
standards will improve the quality and safety of goods on a global scale.  
 
5  Since its launch in 2013 and as of September 2019, the Standards Alliance has completed more 
than 90 trainings, workshops, and delegation visits, with more than 4,200 participants. These 
activities have paved the way for U.S. investment, helped improve cou ntries' understanding and 
application of standards - and conformity assessment -related principles and mechanisms, and have 
improved application of key TBT principles such as transparency. Phase I of the Standards Alliance 
will continue until September 2021,  carrying out existing work with Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, 
Mozambique, Senegal and Zambia.  
 
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