Mrs Lana Marashdeh, Director of Accreditation Department, Jordan Standards and Metrology Organization, together with Magnus Pedersen, Swedac.
The twinning project with Jordan began in August 2017 and will continue for a total of 18 months. Magnus Pedersen at Swedac has visited Jordan a couple of times as an accreditation expert and he is involved in further developing Jordan’s accreditation body. In February, he led a workshop on the development of policies, instructions and procedures for accreditation. The project was launched formally that same week with a kick-off attended by Jordan’s Minister for Trade and the Swedish ambassador to Jordan. Swedac’s project manager Viktoria Lindberg Martinell attended the event and an initial planning meeting with the management.
This initiative is what is known as a twinning project. This is an EU programme where authorities and officials from EU member states share their knowledge and experiences with institutions in countries outside the EU. One objective is to facilitate cooperation between the EU and the recipient country.
Germany and Austria are also involved in the project, in addition to Sweden. Together, these countries are contributing experts with the aim to reinforce the Jordan accreditation body. Sweden’s and Swedac’s contribution aims to provide support and training on matters such as legislation, market surveillance and development of the Jordanian accreditation body.
There are a number of benefits to the project, according to Magnus Pedersen.
“If Sweden can help reinforce accreditation in Jordan and similar countries, this will increase opportunities to export as these countries will have a stable quality infrastructure. Moreover, the project may help to reinforce health and well-being in one of Europe’s neighbour states, and that is a positive thing,” he says.
“As far as Swedac is concerned, the project also involves building up a valuable network with the other stakeholders in Germany and Austria,” says Viktoria Lindberg Martinell.