Delivered by the Acting Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum, Dr Filimon Manoni
at the opening of the Pacific Metrology week
24 July 2023, Suva, Fiji.
Chief Guest - Ms. Virisila Tuimanu (Manager Policy and Officer in Charge), Ministry of Trade, Co-operatives and Small and Medium Enterprises
Ministry Officials
Director Programme & Initiatives - Mr. Zarak Khan
Implementation Partners:
National Measurement Institute (NMI), Australia
Trading Standards, New Zealand
The PQI Team for the Pacific Quality Infrastructure Initiative (now also supported by UNIDO)
Representatives from Forum Island Countries
Ladies & gentlemen
It gives me great pleasure to address you on behalf of the Pacific Islands Forum, on the opening of the Metrology Week.
PIFS initiated the PQI Initiative in 2017 by reaching out to regional and international development and technical partners, and donor agencies. A regional workshop was held in Nadi, Fiji in September 2019 to educate Forum Island Countries about the significance of QI and to discuss the way forward.
It was then that, Quality Infrastructure (QI) was identified as one of the priorities of the Pacific Aid-for-Trade Strategy 2020-2025 due to its significance to promoting and sustaining trade development.
This gave birth to the PQI project which started in October 2020 with funding provided by the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF), DFAT, the EU, and now also Japan, as well as technical assistance provided by Germany through PTB, the German Metrology Institute.
Since the start of the Project, the PQI Unit has dedicated activities to growing the technical capacities of our national QI focal points and establish a governance structure for QI in the region which is fit for purpose. As of now, ladies and gentlemen, three regional coordination mechanisms were established as integral part of Pacific Quality Infrastructure, namely for Standards, Metrology and Testing. These committees will eventually be responsible for managing QI in the region and making sure that standards and conformity assessment services are more accessible to local stakeholders in the Pacific.
Onto the purpose of why we are here. Ladies and gentlemen, today marks a major milestone for Metrology in the region. Metrology Week will host the first face-to-face event on metrology for our Forum Island members. The Week includes a meeting of the Pacific Islands Metrology Committee, and most importantly, hands-on training for our Focal Points and trade measurement inspectors. The training will be provided by our implementing partners, the National Measurement Institute, Australia and Trading Standards, New Zealand.
Growing the capacity of metrology in the region and subsequently for our national economies, promotes fair trading and most importantly, protects consumers. With global trade today becoming more competitive than ever, the importance of measurement cannot be more emphasized.
PIF would like to assure our members that with the support of our development partners, we will continue to support quality infrastructure in the region, so that our members are stronger than before to compete in global markets.
With these words, I would like to wish you, all the best for the event.
[ENDS]
