A Need-based Metrology System in Armenia for Trade Competitiveness and Industrial Development

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Ministry of Economy of Armenia co-organized a workshop on metrology needs assessment with the participation of around 50 representatives from the public and private sector on 28 April 2023 in Yerevan, Armenia. The workshop is in the framework of the project “Support to Quality Infrastructure in Armenia” funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by UNIDO. As part of the inclusive process, it aimed to present to the national stakeholders and seek their validation on the key findings of the assessment and the proposed development plan.  

“In the framework of the workshop, we have learnt on the results of needs assessment and underlined in what directions we will further work. We will also include these results in the metrology strategic document,” mentioned Zhanna Zakaryan, Head of the Department of Quality Infrastructure Development, Ministry of Economy of Armenia.

 “The work of this project is a bit complicated – the challenge is to define actions that are oriented towards the future needs as well as the current ones,” said Karen Azaryan, Trade Officer at the EU Delegation in Armenia.

“We appreciate the work that has been done by our UNIDO colleagues and are glad to see that the directions identified, and the detailed development plan are fully in line with those priorities of the Government,” said Director of the National Body of Standards and Metrology (NBSM), Mr. Albert Babayan.

At the workshop, the public and private sector stakeholders, including governmental agencies, quality infrastructure institutions, and enterprises in Armenia shared their comments and views and validated successfully the needs assessment results and the development plan, which is supposed to guide the metrology capacity development in Armenia for the next 5-10 years.

The “Support to Quality Infrastructure in Armenia” project is to develop capacity of the National Body of Standards and Metrology (NBSM) in order to provide sustainable and internationally recognized metrology services to stakeholders within the country. This project aims to support Armenia to implement the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with the EU for improved trade competitiveness and meaningful utilization of the benefits. Under the project, UNIDO has been supporting Armenia in undertaking the metrology needs assessment (industrial and legal metrology) in collaboration with the Ministry of Economy and NBSM, and formulating a development plan for meeting the needs for metrology services in both a short and long term.