Arab Federation for Metrology - AFM

In view of the present situation of existing regional metrology organizations world wide, it is quite clear that the region of the Arab World is not represented by a regional metrology body in order to lay the basis for the Arab countries effective participation in global trade; strengthen their negotiations with their major trading partners; ensure improvements in the Arab world competitiveness in production and expand and diversify its basket of goods and services for export markets. To achieve such goals there is urgent need for a strong, sustainable and integrated approach to the Arab World quality infrastructure, encompassing metrology, standards, testing, accreditation and quality assurance issues which increasingly are assuming greater significance as technical barriers to trade. It is this fact that lead to the declaration of the establishment of the "Arab Federation for Metrology (AFM). The launching of AFM took place through the First Arab Conference on Measurement and Calibration. The conference was organized by the National Institute for Standards (of Egypt) in collaboration with the "Arab Economic Forum" (AEF) and the "Arab Union for Engineering Industries" – Cairo; November 2007. AFM is founded by Institutions and Organizations concerned with Metrology. The founders' institution and organizations represent Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Yemen and Sudan. The AFM is an open union for all Arab Countries representatives. It has now 19 Institutions working in the Metrology Field representing 10 Arab countries. AFM is established to address the current challenges facing the all Arab countries. The Primary objectives of AFM, therefore, include the provision of an umbrella for collaborative work in the field of Metrology, supporting and coordinating appropriate use of available measurements and calibration capabilities within the Arab World and reversing of the Arab World's marginalization in the globalization process. To this end, AFM aims at preparing a detailed and integrated development programme with several priorities. One of the key priority areas is market access which encompasses the following: (i) intra-Arab trade; (ii) Arab's trade with other countries and continents; and (iii) the diversification of exports. These priorities have to be underpinned by well-designed and coherent technical cooperation and capacity building in the field of Metrology as one pillar of Quality Infra Structure in the Arab world