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MEETING REPORT

Accred Qual Assur (1999) 4 :114Q Springer-Verlag 1999

Ilya Kuselman

Middle East/AfricaMetrology WorkshopsSharm El Sheikh, Egypt,8–12 November, 1998

Four workshops on measurement tookplace in Egypt, in 1998 :Development ofMiddle East/Africa Regional MetrologySystem (MEARMET), Chemical Metro-logy and Reference Materials, Needs As-sessment of the Egyptian Metal Industry,and the Regional Meeting of the NationalConference of Standard Laboratories(NCSL). The meetings were organized bythe Egyptian National Institute for Stand-ards (NIS) and the United States Nation-al Institute for Standards and Technology(NIST).

At the MEARMET workshop the lec-tures of special interest were on econom-ic aspects of metrology, experience of re-gional metrological organizations, and onmetrological capabilities in the MiddleEast/Africa region.

Economic aspects of metrology werediscussed in lectures by: Mr. Raymond G.Kammer from NIST, on “The EconomicImpact of National Metrology Institutes”;Mr. Oscar Harasic and Mr. Dan Crisafullifrom the World Bank on “OrganizationsSupporting Technology Infrastructure andMetrology” and Ms. Vivien Liu from theWorld Trade Organization on “RegionalMetrological Organization’s SupportingWorld Trade Needs”. It was importantfor participants of the workshop to hearfrom representatives of such organiza-

tions that the development of a nationaleconomy requires investments in the de-velopment of the national metrologicalsystem (as a part of the infrastructure ofindustry and trade).

The “Role of Regional Metrology Or-ganizations” was the topic of lectures byDr. Terry Quinn, BIPM (Bureau Interna-tional des Poids and Mesures); Dr. Hec-tor Nava Jaimes, CENAM/Mexico (Cen-tro Nacional de Metrologiá) and Mr.Francois Denner, CSIR/South Africa(Council for Scientific and Industrial Re-search), who talked about activity and ex-perience of the regional organizationsSIM (Inter-American Metrology System)and SADCMET (Southern African De-velopment Community Metrological or-ganization), respectively.

Leaders of the metrological services inEgypt, Ghana, Israel, Jordan, Kenya,Morocco, Saudi Arabia, South Africa,Tunisia, Turkey and Zambia presentedtalks on the metrological capabilities oftheir countries and discussed the princi-pals of establishing a regional metrologyprogramme. The consensus was to adjustthe NIS/NIST proposal for the MEAR-MET “Memorandum of Understanding”to fit the needs of the region countriesand to prepare the memorandum forsigning at the next meeting in Turkey, in1999.

The workshop on Chemical Metrologyand Standard Reference Materials wasopened with a lecture by Dr. Willie Mayfrom NIST on “Chemical Metrology Im-pact on National Economy and Interna-tional Trade”. His colleagues from NIST,Dr. John Fassett, Dr. Stephen Wise andDr. Frank Guenther, described NIST’sprocedures and tools for providing na-tional traceability and regional compara-bility for chemical measurements.

Dr. Ilya Kuselman (INPL/Israel) (Na-tional Physical Laboratory of Israel), Dr.

Yoshito Mitani (CENAM/Mexico) andMs. Vera Pocano (ITR/Brazil) (Instituteof Technological Research) presented thedevelopment of chemical metrology in Is-rael, Mexico and Brazil, respectively. TheEgyptian plan for the development of ref-erence materials was explained by Dr.Samir Lawandy from NIS, Egypt. Possi-ble topics for cooperation and estab-lishing a regional chemical metrologyprogramme in the framework of MEAR-MET were discussed. The programmewill be formulated, tentatively, at the nextmeeting in Turkey.

“Needs Assessment of the EgyptianMetal Industry” was presented in the lec-tures by representatives of NIS andNIST. A proposal was made to developmetal reference materials within Egypt,even if the corresponding materials canbe bought, relatively cheaply, from well-known foreign producers. The idea beingis that, with the assistance of NIST, atransfer of reference material technologywill take place between NIST and NIS.

The regional meeting of NCSL waschaired by Dr. Ed Nemeroff from NCSL.Today, NCSL is an association of morethan 1500 calibration and testing labora-tories from around the world, includingchemical and biochemical (analytical) la-boratories. The problems of traceability,inter-laboratory comparisons and accredi-tation were the topics of the meeting.

During the meeting a technical dem-onstration of the latest innovations in cal-ibration metrology and related instrumen-tation was presented by a number ofcommercial companies. The social eventsand Egyptian hospitality helped in estab-lishing many helpful contacts.

Ilya Kuselman (Y) The National PhysicalLaboratory of Israel (INPL), Givat Ram, Jerusalem 91904, IsraelTel.: c972-2-6536534Fax: c972-2-6520797e-mail: kuselman6netvision.net.il