THE Government for National Unity and Transformation’s (GNUT) policy plan to establish a National Trade Laboratory and Policy has taken a step forward with the government engaging a consultant to develop its Policy.
This was revealed in the National Parliament by Prime Minister Honourable Jeremiah Manele MP when he moved the motion for Members of Parliament to make a response to the Speech from the Throne delivered by Governor General, David Tiva Kapu.
Deliberating on an initial report produced regarding the National Laboratory and Policy, the Prime Minister informed parliament on a number of findings raised in the report.
PM Manele stated that the report recommended that the National Health Laboratory at the Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS) will be the starting point for the realization of the National Trade Laboratory and Policy.
Alluding to the report, PM Manele stated that “the infrastructure, expertise and experience are most concentrated there and preparations toward ISO 17025 accreditation which is critical to trade facilitation are also at an advanced stage.”
The Prime Minister, however, pointed out that there is need for major reforms in organizational setup, autonomy and finance for the laboratory to satisfactorily serve its purpose. Adding that these issues will be covered in greater details in reports to come.
“The sanitary and phytosanitary testing requirements for the export markets however cannot be met purely by a central laboratory testing facility. Process quality control must be maintained throughout the supply chain and environmental standards will in some case also need to be monitored. The National Trade laboratory policy will need to accommodate these issues,” PM Manele stated.
PM Manele further reiterated while the report concentrates on the public health component for trade facilitation, there are other services that are not health and quality related but nonetheless of great economic importance to the country, such as mineral content assays of gold and nickel.
It is envisaged that the National Laboratory Policy will be completed before the end of this year.
