The project will involve establishment of eleven laboratories composed of ten laboratories from four ministries and one private laboratory. It aims to address limited capacity of SPS and food safety related testing laboratories, which has hampered export promotion and import safety.

The capacity of a country’s SPS and food safety related testing laboratories at the national level impacts largely on promotion of exports needed to generate foreign exchange earnings, ensuring safety and quality of imported goods in light of consumer protection, and prevention of environmental degradation so as not to hamper sustainable development while exploiting resources aimed at generating social and economic benefits.

Currently, over 90% of Myanmar primary products are being exported to countries with less rigorous SPS regulation requirements due to insufficient capability to be compliant with stringent technical requirements of lucrative markets.

To improve the capacity of laboratories, the Department of Research and Innovation(DRI) under the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), among others, organized the Lab Networking Steering Committee in October 2015. To date, a Myanmar laboratory association with link to lab networks in the region has been created. From an initial 16 laboratories conducting proficiency testing, among others, the association has now expanded to 20 laboratories.