Official from the Ministry of Industry, Mines, and Energy (MIME) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization signed an agreement last week to equip a laboratory at the Institute of Standards of Cambodia and to strengthen the capacity of officials, with US$500,000 donated by the Norwegian government.

The institute would play a role in banning the flow of foreign goods into Cambodia that did not meet national standards, Minister for MIME Suy Sem said.

Most of Cambodia’s products have yet to be tested by the institute.

As Cambodia tried to integrate with more mature members of the ASEAN community, establishing product quality standards was necessary as goods would begin to flow through the region without a customs tax in 2015, officials said.

Chan Sopha, vice-president of MIME’s Standard Institute, said the institute still lacked the budget to organise a meeting to review the many standard documents.

He said that so far, the institute had recognised 100 products, most of which were electric appliances, electronics, food products and controlling systems, as standardised.

“We have done little because there are tens of thousands of products to be reviewed, but we have just finished 100 more. The budget offered is small compared to that needed by the institute,” Chian Sopha said.

Suy Sem said the half-million dollars in aid, awarded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, was chiefly focused on equipping the institute’s laboratory and training officials to fortify quality evaluations.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rann Reuy at [email protected]