Iran needs to get ready for the post-sanctions era

The head of the Iranian National Standard Organization (INSO) has said that Iran has to do more to compensate for its past failures in order to be an active player on international markets.

Nayyereh Pirouzbakht made the remark in a ceremony Monday marking World Accreditation Day and added that the way has been paved for Iran to make it back onto the international stage, but we need to launch new efforts to make up for the past underdevelopment once the sanctions are removed.

Mardomsalari newspaper on June 9 published a report on Pirouzbakht’s remarks in the ceremony which was also attended by the head of the Environment Protection Organization. The following is the translation of part of that report:

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The INSO chief said the standards Iran has set inside the country are below the international standards, adding that a post-sanctions Iran should look beyond its national borders so that it can make its presence felt in international arenas by taking tactful measures.

She said accreditation [the process in which certification of competency, authority, or credibility is presented] is needed if a country seeks to go international, adding such concepts should be institutionalized in the country before we can convince the international community that Iran is not inattentive to such concepts.

We can do business and render services on a level playing field based on one principle: any product or service – which has been officially recognized in a country or economic zone – can be accepted and circulated in other countries and economic zones without undergoing further tests and inspections and getting further certificates, she added.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) selected “One standard, one test – Accepted everywhere” as its slogan in 2002 to achieve the same objective, Pirouzbakht said.

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For several years countries across the globe have celebrated World Accreditation Day, but this year is the first year Iran marks the occasion, she also said, adding many economic players and beneficiaries in Iran may be still unfamiliar with the concept of accreditation.

She went on to say that if we fail to introduce and popularize this concept, part of our efforts to get into global markets will take a direct hit. Trade, which is currently regulated in untraditional ways, should be in line with new concepts so that Iran can get ready to break into the complex world of trade, she stressed.

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