An International Organization for Standardization (ISO) workshop scheduled to take place in Saint Lucia from Tuesday, September 5 to Thursday, September 7 has been postponed due to the imminent passage of Hurricane Irma.
In a message to the Saint Lucia Bureau of Standards (SLBS), ISO said it had considered the evolution of Hurricane Irma in the region and decided to cancel the event which would have seen participants from the region and Europe face a possible risk of being stranded.
Saint Lucia was on track to benefit from support from the ISO’s Action Plan for Developing Countries 2016-2020 with the implementation of a five-point plan aimed at improving developing countries’ opportunities for economic growth and access to world markets and helping to achieve sustainable development through standardization.
The workshop was expected to focus attention on how standardization can allow governments to harness the effectiveness of standards in supporting public policy and the development and operation of a robust National Quality Infrastructure (NQI).
An NQI relates to all the areas of standardization, testing, measurement, certification and accreditation which allow economies to build competitiveness into their systems, facilitate trade and improve the overall well-being of people.
The standards in support of public policies respond to a need for building the capacity of regulators and policy-makers to understand the role of standards in public policy, raise awareness and promote the application of good practices and to provide a roadmap of key steps towards strengthening the cooperation between NSBs and regulators.
There is no agreement yet on the rescheduling of this workshop.
For more information, please call Vernet Fontenelle at 453-0049 or email [email protected].