China-Africa: The Chinese Embassy in Dar es Salaam has often advised Tanzanian traders to contact bona fide manufacturers or authorised dealers
Japan has said its products sold in overseas markets are subjected to stringent inspection procedures and it is next to impossible for counterfeit or substandard goods to leave the country.
The statement comes at a time when Tanzania, through the Fair Competition Commission and several other government agencies, is grappling with a flood of fake and substandard imports.
Yasuhiro Namagasu, Director of Overseas Research Department responsible for the Middle East and Africa Division of Japan`s Trade Organisation (JETRO), said in an exclusive interview with this paper here at the weekend that the Japanese government has tightened rules and procedures businesspersons must follow before exporting anything.
“Fake and substandard export goods have been raising outcries in many parts of the world, especially in Africa, and Japan cannot allow its good name to be tarnished in the world of business and trade,“ he stated.
Namagasu said his country`s economy depended heavily on industrial products for exports, “so we have been doing the most we can to ensure that goods produced meet the required standards without fail“.
The Japanese government supports a national campaign dubbed One Village One Product, he added.
Statistics of exports availed to The Guardian show that Japan, the world`s second largest economy, exported to Tanzania products valued at a total of USD218,444,000 between January and November last year.
The country meanwhile imported from Tanzania
goods valued at USD117,725,000 during the same period.
According to the data, products imported by Japan include foodstuffs like fish, shrimps, lobsters and meat, iron ore and concentrates, wood, textile yarn and fabrics, coffee and tobacco.
Like many other African countries, Tanzania has for years been importing from Japan mainly an assortment of electronic equipment and related products, vehicles and vehicle spare parts.
However, recent years have seen swelling numbers of members of the Tanzanian business community ending up with fake or other substandard electronic gadgets imported, deliberately or otherwise, mainly from China.
The Chinese Embassy in Dar es Salaam has often advised Tanzanian traders to contact bona fide manufacturers or authorised dealers straight whenever planning to import products from China to avoid being duped into paying for counterfeit goods from backyard factories or dishonest agents.
- SOURCE: Guardian
Tags: Tanzania