EU supports lab management training

Islamabad—A two training workshops two days each, for scientists engaged in testing export and import products to strengthen their capacity on laboratory management has been commenced here on Friday. The ongoing TRTA II programme is funded by the European Union (EU), which aims at strengthening the capacity of Pakistan to participate in international trade. The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) manages the overall programme implementation.

Accreditation is a procedure by which an authoritative body gives formal recognition that a body or a person is competent to carry out specific tasks (testing, certification, and inspection) to a defined set of activities. ‘Accreditation is a means of: determining, recognizing & promoting competence’ this was said by Dr. Upali Samarajeewa, international expert in Laboratory Accreditation, at the Laboratory Management: Method Validation, Uncertainty & Traceability of Measurement organized by the Trade Related Technical Assistance (TRTA II) programme. This programme is targeting scientists from 30 laboratories in Pakistan, which are seeking international accreditation from the Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC) under the UNIDO assistance program.

The activity will strengthen the scientists in the laboratories to fine tune their test methods and enter into practice of self-checks on test results generated using internationally accepted test methods. The workshop is conducted by two international experts of UNIDO, Prof Emeritus Upali Samarajeewa and Ms Subadra Jayasinghe from Sri Lanka. There are more than 70 participants registered to participate in the work shop conducted in Islamabad and subsequently in Lahore.