Submitted by the Instituto Dominicano para la Calidad (INDOCAL)

“Unity is strength. When there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved”.

Mattie Stepanek

Santo Domingo, D.N. Regional cooperation is of vital importance to boost technical and financial support for both public and private policies in a nation. The unity of efforts between national and regional organizations increases the provision of equipment, supplies, as well as advice and training. Factors that strengthen the purposes where they are applied, and in this particular case, are fundamental for the promotion of the Dominican Quality Infrastructure.

Since 2019, the 11th EDF (European Development Fund) Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Project has provided the CARICOM countries and the Dominican Republic with benefits from the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). Throughout its history, the project has designed and implemented initiatives and subsequent actions to reduce technical barriers to trade, achieve strengthening and take advantage of both national and regional Quality Infrastructure.

Metrology Developments

Regarding innovation, science and technology in the area of ​​metrology, the installation of a Pressure Laboratory was announced – an initiative that is in the diagnostic evaluation stage carried out by the National Institute of Quality of Peru (INACAL) and offers technical support, as well as the donation of equipment by the 11th EDF.

This facility is vital for people’s health, because the metrological verifications must be taken care of in the equipment that is used in the measurement of blood pressure, a medical examination of such importance. Since, in many health centers, sphygmomanometers and other devices are used.

Value Chains

The project, which is being developed with the EDF in its 11th edition, implements the CALIDENA methodology in the value chain of coconut milk for export. This systemic process, developed by the Federal Institute of Physics and Technology of Germany (PTB), diagnoses the possible improvements that must be made to the Quality Infrastructure of the country, to minimize its limitations in measurements and demonstrate the quality of the product that will allow inserting in the international market. In this sense, facilitators have been trained in the methodology and critical implementation routes have been traced.

Cooperation and Trade

In relation to internal trade in the Caribbean region and also with other regions of the world, the project outlines regional strategies and common activities in the field of metrology, accreditation and conformity assessment.

As ways to strengthen trade in the Caribbean region, the aim is to harmonize the rules that facilitate commercial exchange. Currently, 2 Dominican standards are being analyzed: toilet paper and bananas, with the intention of making them equivalent to the other countries in the region.

In this same sense, in the activities associated with the development of standardization, metrology and accreditation, there are committees for each of the issues that address the strengthening of the functions of the Quality Infrastructure (QI) in the region. The Dominican Republic participates in them with selected representatives and is part of the committee created for quality advertising and communication.

Awareness Raising & Visibility

In the field of training and orientation aimed at the implementation of the Dominican quality culture, INDOCAL held the “Infrastructure Seminar and Quality Award for Sustainable Economic Development and a more Competitive Country”, this activity grouped under the same scenario the government, industrial, academic and media sectors, where the progress of the infrastructure for quality, its impact on facilitating trade and increasing national competitiveness.

In this same sense, recognizing and identifying the incidence of the media as an essential sector for the massive dissemination of information of great interest to citizens, the Webinar “Technical Barriers to Trade and Quality Infrastructure” was designed and delivered to members from the press, where more than 20 journalists were able to learn more about the operation, progress and contributions of the project to the Dominican quality infrastructure. Throughout these years, in each step, initiative, action, sponsorship and technical support, the 11th EDF Project of the European Union Development Funds, has left its commitment to the development of quality in the Dominican Republic reflected in its trajectory.