Yunnan Province in China has pledged to provide complete support for the construction of Sri Lanka’s first-ever ISO 17025 certified Organic Products Laboratory in Kantale, based on a concept presented by Eastern Province Governor Anuradha Yahampath, with the assistance of the Institute of Industrial Technology.
A meeting was held on March 12 at the Governor’s office in Trincomalee, chaired by Ma Su Shin, the Deputy Director General of the Foreign Relations Office of Yunnan Province and the Governor. It was agreed during the discussion that the seed research of the organic product quality laboratory would receive an international status certificate, a first for the country.
The relevant agreements between the two Governors are expected to be reached in May.
The laboratory will be developed in two phases with soil, seeds, water, and fertilizer tests being conducted in the first phase, and the subsequent tests for obtaining international status certification in the second phase.
The Governor also presented the strategic plan for the next five years of the Eastern Province with the aim of attracting investors from Yunnan Province. The discussion also involved talks on generating energy from solar and wind power.
The event was attended by a Chinese delegation representing education, rural industries, energy city planning, business, and production sectors in Yunnan Province, along with other officials from the Sri Lankan Provincial Ministry of Agriculture and the Industrial Technology Institute.
