Buenos Aires, October 02, 2023. A team formed by the chemical engineer Anahí Monier, expert of AL-INVEST Verde, and officials of the Argentinean Undersecretariat of Industry visited since the end of August and during the month of September a total of 21 national testing and certification laboratories to assess their capacities to meet EU technical norms and standards for sustainability and quality, thus facilitating the export to the EU of agro-export products Argentines.

The visits were part of the action that AL-INVEST Verde is carrying out in collaboration with the Ministry of Economy of Argentina, through the Secretariat of Industry and Productive Development, and the National Quality Plan, in order to supporting laboratories in identifying their needs in relation to the rules for exporting bovine leather, timber, soybeans and derivatives to the EU.

To this end, reference entities for the selected value chains were visited and the responsible personnel were interviewed to obtain information on the operation of the centres' management systems, analytical capacities, state of infrastructure and equipment, availability and competences of human resources, application of sustainability, quality and gender equality policies, as well as certifications and accreditations obtained.

Once all the information gathered has been analysed, the centres' capacities to ensure compliance with EU sustainability and quality requirements for bovine leather, timber, soya and derivatives will be assessed and identify possible adaptation needs. In this way, the aim is to strengthen the quality infrastructure.

The visits to public and private entities were coordinated by the National Quality Plan and were carried out in the five regions of the country (northwest, northeast, Cuyo, centre and Patagonia) with the purpose of generating national and federal information.

About AL-INVEST Verde

AL-INVEST Verde is a European Union (EU) programme whose main objective is to promote sustainable growth and job creation in Latin America by supporting the transition towards a low-carbon, resource-efficient and more circular economy. Through Component 2, led by FIIAPP in consortium with IILA, the programme provides assistance for strengthening public policy and multi-stakeholder dialogues on sustainable agricultural and value chains, environmental and labour standards, as well as sustainable trade and economic policy and regulatory frameworks.