ISLAMABAD, Sept 16: Pakistan’s industry will have to test, calibrate and certify their products in accordance with the international standards to enhance their credibility. This was stated by the secretary, ministry of science and technology, Kh. Zaheer Ahmed, while speaking at the certificate awarding ceremony of a five-day laboratory assessor course. The course was arranged by the Pakistan National Accreditation Council in collaboration with the Norwegian Accreditation here on Friday.

Mr Ahmad said the government was striving to promote the culture of laboratory accreditation under ISO-17025 that was imperative to successfully tackle the post-WTO challenges.

He said the local industry had to adhere to the international market and added that it was a fact that economic pressures and competition were forcing companies and industries to develop and market better quality products quickly and inexpensively.

“Standardization, certification, testing, inspection and accreditation play a vital role in improving quality culture in the country,” he said.

Mr Ahmad said that the local consumers equally deserved quality product and services and the culture of quality improvement in the accreditation services would modernize the laboratories.

He expressed the hope that trained and qualified technical assessors would not only be able to assist in accreditation of laboratories for ISO-17025, but would also lead to creating a pool and community of experts in the quality areas.