H. E. Mr. Amjad Hussain B. Sial, Secretary General of SAARC, addressed the Inaugural Session of the Regional Kick-off Workshop of the Project, Strengthening Regional Infrastructure and Cooperation in the field of Quality Infrastructure, that commenced in Kathmandu from today.

 

The two-day start-up Workshop was organized by Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) (National Metrology Institute) of the Federal Republic of Germany in collaboration with Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology.

 

Hon. Mr. Matrika Prasad Yadav, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies of Nepal graced the occasion with his presence as the Chief Guest.

 

In his address, the Secretary General thanked PTB for launching the project in 2010, which is now in its third and final phase for the period 2018-2021. Giving due regard to SAARC’s collaboration with its partners, including PTB, he said, “This Workshop is a testimony to SAARC’s increasing engagement and collaboration with regional and international organizations, as well as with its observers. It is also a good example of SAARC’s interest in project-based collaboration.”

 

Addressing the Workshop, he further said, “Home to one fourth of humanity and endowed with abundant human and natural resources, the SAARC region has vast potential for socio-economic development and improving the quality of life of the peoples. Moreover, with a consumer market of 1.7 billion people, South Asia is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. These advantages provide tremendous potential for enhanced intra-regional trade for sustained economic growth.”

 

SAARC and PTB signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2003 with the objective to implement technical cooperation projects in the area of metrology, standards, testing, quality management, accreditation and certification, collectively known as MSTQ, in the Member States of SAARC.

Since the signing of the MoU, PTB has provided numerous capacity building programmes in the field of Metrology and Accreditation to the Member States and has been an important development partner of SAARC for project-based collaboration.

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Kathmandu, 08 May 2018