Sri Lanka pushes ISO 14001 to local industries with free consultancy offer

Going green is the future for our industries and if we see the overall preparation of internationally compliant exports as a process, then the ISO 140001 certification becomes a vital driver in the back-office operations of this process, said Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen.

The Minister’s speech was delivered on the occasion of the certificate award ceremony and official launch of the Environmental Management System Development Support Programme yesterday at the Ramada Hotel, Colombo. In his absence, Minister Bathiudeen’s speech was delivered to the audience by Asitha Senevirathne, Additional Secretary (Policy Development) of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

“I am happy to announce that two Sri Lankan industries – newspaper printing and cement ready mix industries – are entering our ISO certification scheme for the first time. Local cable manufacturing, textiles and apparel industries have already entered the ISO 140001 domain and today too some such firms are receiving the ISO 140001 certification to which I wish to extend my congratulations,” the Minister said in his message.

Announcing free ISO consulting assistance for private sector Minister Bathiudeen emphasised: “Understanding the needs of the hour, my Ministry also has developed many plans to assist industries to live up to the global expectations. We have drawn up many programmes and projects to incorporate international buyer concerns into our greening initiatives. I am happy to announce that the Ministry of Industry and Commerce has decided to support 10 firms to be ISO 140001 certified in 2011. They are scheduled to be selected after calling applications and once selected, the 10 firms are expected to receive direct ISO consultancy to the total value of Rs. 6 million. My Ministry is also planning to help new industries emerging in the north and east regions.”

ISO is the world’s largest standards specifying body. Among its various standard specifications, the ISO 140001 standard set pertains to the environment, specifically to environment management. The ISO 140001 international standard reporting tool has now become the preferred global standard sought by cross-border buyers when they place import orders with Sri Lankan exporters. Therefore the qualification gives Sri Lankan exporters the much needed “preferred supplier” status.

“Since by itself Sri Lanka is a very small market, it is imperative that we need to expand our exports. When I say exports, I should stress that it is not just any exports. It is exports on par with international standards—standards such as ISO. The fact that the number of ISO 140001 certified firms which stood at 87 in 2007 has grown to more than 100 shows the increasing importance of ISO in the eyes of our manufacturers. In fact, as I reiterated on 28 June, going green is one of the three main challenges that our exports sector is set to face.

“Greening has now become not only fashionable but even profitable. I think you would agree that there may not be industrial excellence or international greatness for us if our precious environment is left to suffer. Even more important is our realisation that neglecting greening initiatives may deal a body blow to our exports survival, a cycle which can be perceived by the value creation approach. In that if we perceive that the overall preparation of internationally compliant exports is a process, then the ISO 140001 certification becomes a vital driver in the back-office operations of this process,” Minister Bathiudeen emphasised.

“The NCPC with the support of my Ministry is also launching a new project today to provide free ISO greening consultancy valued at Rs. 500,000 for every selected company to develop Environmental Management Systems. This EMS initiative is also made available to several selected industries. Six medium sized companies are being certified today with a value of Rs. 3 million. I extend my warmest congratulations to the six companies for joining the global membership of more than 14000 ISO 140001 certified companies,” Minister Bathiudeen added.

Commending the National Cleaner Production Centre’s (NCPC) efforts, the Minister stressed: “I commend the NCPC for their yeoman service in this field and believe the newly trained and certified consultants will work with the enterprises to promote resource efficient industrial production to reach our desired state of economy, the ‘Miracle of Asia’. National Cleaner Production Centre, an institute under my Ministry, has been assisting industries to be environmentally friendly using a unique strategy where they achieve environment excellence through optimisation of resource consumption. Practice of cleaner production in industry needs experts and consultants who can assist the industries in finding appropriate solutions for resource optimisation. I am told that NCPC has trained over 200 cleaner production consultants during the last few years. In 2010 they have trained another batch of cleaner production consultants. I am told that another group of officers from Sri Lanka Standards Institute trained by NCPC too are receiving certificates today.”

Commenting on the new economic growth, Minister Bathiudeen added: “Sri Lanka under the leadership of Mahinda Rajapaksa, our President, has now entered a rapid growth phase and it is our intention to be the ‘Miracle of Asia’ in the near future. The peaceful environment prevailing today is very conducive to the objectives of the Government as the north and east regions too have joined the national economy.

“Just yesterday, two international rating agencies, Moody’s and Fitch, upgraded Sri Lanka’s sovereign rating from stable to positive. They announced that a key driver contributing to this upgrading is the peace dividend supported by greater macro – economic stability. Most macro sectors appear to have received a new lease of life with industries growing at 10% in the first quarter of this year.

“Tourism is starting to boom as arrivals increased by 40% in the first five months of this year and service sectors too are entering a steady growth phase. For us to continue to achieve such economic growth numbers there is no doubt that our manufacturers and exporters need to position themselves in par with standards of global competition. The National Cleaner Production Centre’s efforts towards pro-environmental processes need to be commended to this end.”

Petra Schwager, Industrial Development Officer of UNIDO, Vienna, addressing the ceremony stressed on UNIDO’s continuous support to Sri Lanka’s greening efforts. “Not only economic benefits but even environmental benefits result from cleaner production processes. More importantly, we should not forget that it is a process of continuous improvement,” she said.