UNIDO in MYANMAR: DEVELOPING THE COUNTRY’S QUALITY INFRASTRUCTURE
The “NQI for Trade project” supports accreditation, standardization, metrology, testing laboratories, inspection, and food safety.
UNIDO is the UN specialist agency mandated for Integrated Sustainable Industrial Development. As part of their competitiveness upgrading portfolio, UNIDO supports the development of National Quality infrastructure (standards, metrology, and conformity assessment) worldwide.
In Myanmar, UNIDO (project TEMYA 120001) has been assisting the development of the Myanmar National Accreditation Body since 2014. The UNIDO expert is Mr Ned Gravel, a senior accreditation and conformity assessment expert. Mr Gravel, an APLAC Chairperson, has been developing National Accreditation Bodies in Bangladesh, Laos, and Jordan.
UNIDO support to DRI for accreditation includes:
– assisting the Accreditation Division of NSQD to set up the quality management system for accreditation in line with ISO17011 standard
– training MNAB staff on assessment procedures and decision-making
– raising the profile of Myanmar AB in regional forums (APLAC GA in 2015 and 2106), and assisting to regional cooperation with the Singapore Accreditation Council providing assistance to select and train assessors: the first ever assessors’ training course in Myanmar was organized in September 2016 for 20 lab officers.
UNIDO’s support to Accreditation is consistent with assistance to the laboratory sector under another component of the TEMYA120001 project. UNIDO currently supports seven laboratories to set up quality management systems in line with ISO/IEC 17025; also providing necessary equipment and proficiency testing services as needed.
