The South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations have approved harmonized and uniform standards for three food items while common standards draft on another four items has been sent to South Asian Regional Standard Organization (SARSO) Secretariat for final approval. After publication from SARSO, all the SAARC countries will have to adopt same standards as national standard having great impact to boost regional trade among SAARC countries.
The decision was made in the 8th two-day meeting of Sectoral Technical Committee of SARSO on "Food and Agricultural Products (SAARC's specialized body on standardization)" concluded here on Thursday.
The meeting was hosted by Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA). Engr Khalid Siddique, DG PSQCA, participated as a chief guest. It was chaired by Nazir Hussain, Director Standard PSQCA. Khawaja Ghulam Muhayyuddin, Deputy Director SARSO, Programme Officer SAARC Secretariat Khatmando Manzoor Riaz, Deputy Director PSQCA Asghar Ali, Khuram Mateen and experts from all the SAARC countries also attended it.
In the meeting, the experts approved harmonized and uniform standards on three food items including biscuits, refined sugar and code of hygiene practices and sent it to SARSO Secretariat for publication while discussion completed on common standards for instant noodles, skimmed milk powder, hydro generated vegetable oil and black tea and the final standard draft sent SARSO for approval.