| SAARC LDC Trade Capacity Building Initiative: |
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The main reason for this project is due to international trade increasingly becoming dependent not only on quality standards but also on credible testing facilities to ensure that products comply with requirements of those standards. The institutional structure for defining quality standards and verifying their compliance is collectively known as Standards, Metrology, Testing and Quality (SMTQ). This institutional structure plays a vital part in enabling the industry of a country to compete in the international market. In the LDCs of the SAARC region, these institutions have not yet fully developed to international standards. To address this challenge, UNIDO designed the SMTQ Project to assist these LDCs in strengthening their SMTQ institutions to overcome technical barriers in their external trade and enable them to increase value added exports. This can help in generating additional income from their products thereby overcoming poverty. The development of national standards will not only help in increasing exports but also upgrading the quality of products in their domestic market.
Therefore, a major element in UNIDO’s SMTQ project deals with upgrading these test laboratories and assisting them in getting accreditation. The UNIDO SMTQ Project aims to identify the deficiencies in the test laboratories in terms of test equipment, infrastructure, technical skills of personnel and laboratory management system and a master plan for their up gradation. UNIDO experts have carried out an extensive study of test laboratories in all LDCs of SAARC Region and identified the additional equipment required by various test laboratories and the type of training needed to be provided to testing personnel and managers. A major institutional weakness observed was that none of the LDCs has proper calibration facilities essential for maintaining accuracy of test equipment.
The absence of accredited test laboratories forces the exporters to get their products tested in laboratories of other countries. Alternatively, they have to accept the conditions of foreign importers to get the products tested in their countries. In both cases, they have to bear heavy costs of testing. In addition, the payment for a consignment also gets delayed because customers release the final payment only after obtaining satisfactory test results. To address these issues, UNIDO SMTQ Project aims to upgrade national standards institutions, technical laboratories and also establish quality consultancy facilities in the national chambers of commerce and industry.
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