Citizens and local authorities have been called upon to maintain standards in order to support building a smart Rwanda with smart cities.

The call was made during the World Standards Day in Kigali on Friday.

The event, organised by Rwanda Standards Board (RSB), concluded a weeklong sensitisation campaign, dubbed "The standards week,” in which RSB staff, alongside other stakeholders, travelled to different parts of the country raising awareness on the importance of standards in building a smart Rwanda.

Marked annually on October 14 internationally, the World Standards Day recognises the role of standards in facilitating trade nationally and internationally.

The theme for this year’s edition was "Standards make cities smarter,” and at the national level, the theme was "Standards contribute toward building a smart Rwanda with smart cities.”

Speaking at the event, Raymond Murenzi, the director-general of RSB, said the Government’s seven-year programme aims at fast, sustainable development of cities as well as improved standards of living for the citizens, which cannot be achieved without respect for standards.

"The importance of standards in building a ‘Smart Rwanda’ with smart cities is unrivaled as we look to stay away from the effects of congestion as we conserve the environment and protect the lives of those who live in cities,” he said.

Among the standards, different people in the country were sensitised about the right ways of building homes with respect to the environment, solid and liquid waste management, smart electrification, clean cooking, and smart water supply.

"Once these instructions are respected, it will be a trigger for bringing in tourists,” Murenzi said.

He also urged the contractors and other actors in the construction sector to pay more attention to standards in their daily work.

Vincent Munyeshyaka, the minister for trade and industry, urged RSB to make more efforts to ensure that the public get to know about standards since the country is getting more industrialised and there have to be efforts to make sure that development will not affect lives.

"Our economy has to base on industries as one of the drivers of development. RSB is doing good but it must ensure that more people get to know about what it is doing,” he said, as he pledged his ministry’s support to RSB.

Rwanda has been celebrating the world standards day since 2002. This was the sixteenth time for the celebrations.

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