Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Minister of Trade and Industry, says maintaining the right standards in all spheres of life is key to promoting quality, efficiency and progress.

“Cutting corners in order to cut down on cost and maximise profit could be much more expensive, because of the unpleasant consequences that often go with such behaviour.”

The Minister, said this at the 47th World Standards Day Celebration, which was held in Accra on Friday, October, 14.

This year’s celebration was on the theme: “Standards Build Trust,” and seeks to throw light on the link between adherence to standard practice in all spheres of life, and the trust such practice inspires in publics, clients, and all other stakeholders who stand to gain or lose, depending on how well standards are maintained.

Dr Spio-Garbrah, who officially launched the day, noted that it was a good thing that Ghana for example, had quite a good reputation as a dependable supplier of pharmaceutical products.

“Pharmaceutical products from Ghana are therefore in high demand all over the world,” he noted.

The Minister said this kind of trust could only be earned when one diligently stuck to standard practice, and became known and respected for that.

He said besides serving the needs of prospective beneficiaries better, maintaining standard practice also ensured the growth and progress of individuals, businesses, organisations and nations.

“A country that is known for poor standards in the provision of goods and services, would definitely perform poorly in a world that has now become a global village.”

Dr Spio-Garbrah, urged the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) to continue in its bid to ensure adherence to the right standards as it had excellently done in the past.

“The government would continue to support the Ghana Standards Authority in all ways possible, to ensure that the authority effectively execute its mandate, which would ultimately promote socio-economic growth,” said Dr Spio-Garbrah.

The occasion was hosted by the GSA.

The World Standards Day is celebrated every year, to re-enforce the need to live up to the right standards in all fields of endeavour, in order to ensure trust and dependability.