RIYADH, 10 January 2004 — India’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) will help the Saudi Arabian Standards Organization become a member of BIPM (Bureau International des Poids et Mesures), an international organization based in Paris that seeks to ensure worldwide uniformity of measurements — one of the requirements for accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
This was announced at a press conference by Dr. Vikram Kumar, director, National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi, who said SASO will have to satisfy all the conditions required before becoming a member of BIPM. “I have seen their laboratories which are already sophisticated and well-equipped. To start with, they will have to become an associate member of BIPM before moving on to the next stage.”
The press conference was also attended by J.S. Mukul, minister at the Indian Embassy, Ananthakrishna, first secretary (Press & Information) and Sanjay Rana, commercial counselor. From the CSIR side, the delegates included Dr. K.N.Gurudutt, scientist, Central Food Technologies Research Institute (CFTRI) and Pramod Bhushan, scientist, CSIR, New Delhi.
Earlier, the CSIR team signed an agreement for the continuation of the technical cooperation and training program at SASO headquarters. It was signed on behalf of SASO by Dr. Khaled Y.Al-Khalaf, director-general of SASO.
The agreement binds both countries to continue their ongoing cooperation in the maintenance of Saudi standard time. As Dr. Kumar explained: “We have a teleclock at the National Physical Laboratory in India which automatically synchronizes time with SASO’s atomic clock, as SASO is in charge of maintaining the Saudi Standard Time. We also train their staff at our lab facilities in New Delhi.”
It was also announced that two Saudi delegations are currently in New Delhi for negotiating two separate agreements. One is for Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement and the other for Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement. Mukul said that these negotiations, which are in their final stages, would go a long way in promoting the flow of investment in both directions. The volume of Saudi-Indian bilateral trade in 2002-03 stood at $ 5.1 billion, up 13.7 percent over the previous year.
Referring to India’s initiative in getting SASO to become an associate member of BIPM, Dr. Kumar said that besides the tariff barriers, countries bidding for accession to the WTO are also required to dismantle non-tariff barriers. This would mean achieving uniformity in metrological standards, so that goods being exported or imported are compatible with WTO specifications on the non-tariff side.
Dr. Gurudutt of CFTRI said they have an agreement with SASO for training their staff in the areas of food analysis and food processing. CFTRI, he observed has achieved technological breakthrough in food preservation, value-added food products, food packaging and transportation. “Both Saudi Arabia and India have tropical climates. Our technology would be useful to the Kingdom not only in preserving foodstuff but also in recycling waste material,” he added.
