Strengthening the Compliance of the OIC Member States
to International Standards
83
can form the basis for upgrading industrial competitiveness in key industries, both primary and
secondary.
Although there has been some regional cooperation on standards within the context of SAARC, efforts
are as yet nascent in this regard. Given that standards infrastructure is better developed in some
neighboring countries like India, there may be scope for South-South capacity building in this regard. In
any event, regional markets are important for exports of some goods, so standards cooperation could
bear fruit in terms of improved prospects for Bangladeshi exporters. However, since the main markets
for Bangladesh’s key RMG industry are distant—the US and the EU, in particular—focusing on
international standards makes commercial and policy sense, as it enables producers to meet the
requirements of GVCs and lead firms that need products of consistent quality and characteristics. The
Bangladesh example shows that international standards harmonization can be one way in which
developing countries can go about upgrading their industrial structures in key industries where GVCs
are prevalent.
6.2.2 Egypt
Egypt is a lower middle income country, with a per capita GDP of USD $10,530 in purchasing power
parity terms in 2014. As such, it is considerably further up the income charts than Bangladesh and
Senegal, the two other countries used as case studies in this report. Nonetheless, until the late 1990s,
Egypt’s standardization and quality infrastructure revealed a high degree of complexity, fragmentation,
and lack of transparency, which can be attributed to inward-oriented policies going back to the 1960s.
With the adoption of more open trade policies and the participation in several international
organizations, in addition to preferential and regional trade agreements, the standardization and quality
control system has witnessed significant improvements carried out by the government with the help of a
number of international organizations and trade-related technical assistance programs.
Figure 38 shows that the composition of Egypt’s exports is quite different from that of Bangladesh.
Mineral oils and fuels dominate, but other products are also important, both manufactured goods and
agricultural products. Another difference with Bangladesh is that the sources of demand for Egypt’s
exports are more varied, with a more important role played by developing countries, including India, as
well as geographically relatively close countries like Saudi Arabia and Turkey (Figure 39).