ISO MENA Star ISO MENA Star - Trade, Climate Initiative Climate and enviroment structures, trade related support to upgrade   in MENA Klimat och miljö strukturer, handels höjande stöd i MENA. The “Project to strengthen institutional infrastructure on standards and regulations to support business and industry in the Middle East and North Africa during 2013-2018” primarily aims to strengthen institutions developing and using standards as well as the capacity of business and industry to apply standards within the context of sustainable development. The implementation of this project involves delivery of various forms of technical assistance and training activities to achieve the following three objectives:
a) Objective 1: Standardization pillar in the MENA region is strengthened – aims tostrengthen the capacity of selected industry support institutions, such as the NationalStandards Body (NSB) and regulators as well as trade promotion organizations, toenhance the country’s participation in international trade, while increasing international competitiveness and export performance through increased quality.
b) Objective 2: Promote good practices for sustainable development with focus onaspects related to climate change – aims to contribute to the development of a soundbusiness enabling environment by encouraging the private sector and other stakeholders to use international standards to demonstrate their commitment to sustainable development.
c) Objective 3: Coordination and synergies with other related organizations andamong projects and countries are implemented – aims to enhance the cooperationwith regional and sub-regional organizations, involved in standardization or standardrelated activities.
Furthermore, there is a focus on gender integration to standards in the region as well as climate change components that are of relevance to Swedish regional strategy for the MENA-region 2016-2020.