Today, in the conference hall of the European Union project SARD III, a solemn presentation of ISO certificates to three Turkmen companies that have successfully passed the test for compliance with international standards was held.

Such certification of domestic manufacturers is a fundamentally important part in increasing competitiveness in the international market, because the question of the company's reputation and trust in the consumer's products is always relevant. International certificates, including those for compliance with ISO management system standards, can serve as a confirmation of the professional attitude of enterprises to maintaining the quality and safety of their products.

The European Union's SARD III project assisted in attracting the “CERT International” certification expert group. Its international auditors conducted a thorough review of the quality and food safety management system at three Turkmen enterprises operating in the field of agriculture and food industry in November 2019.

All three companies have successfully passed certification for compliance with ISO 9001:2015 "quality management Systems" and ISO 22000:2018 "food safety management Systems" and will now get an additional advantage when exporting their products abroad, when negotiating with partners and investors, and when participating in tenders. In addition to these advantages, the management system implemented and certified at these enterprises will reduce costs by stricter accounting of raw materials and finished products, increase the efficiency of internal business processes, ensure a clear distribution of staff responsibilities and their commitment to their work. Of course, not the least role is played by the trust that the internationally recognized certificate evokes in our domestic consumers.

The “CERT International” expert group is accredited by the Slovak national accreditation service (SNAS), which, in turn, is a member of The international accreditation forum (IAF) and the European accreditation cooperation (EA), as well as a party to the IAF Multilateral mutual recognition agreement (IAF MLA). In this regard, it is important that the authenticity and reliability of certificates issued by “CERT International” is indisputable.

This fact indicates that the “CERT International” certificates issued today are accredited and will be recognized all over the world, in accordance with the IAF principle "Certified once – recognized everywhere". This reduces the risk for Turkmen certified companies that their products or services will not be accepted by international trade partners.

It is particularly gratifying that starting from January 2020, the “CERT International” certification group is now represented in Turkmenistan on a permanent basis through its official partner, the “HIL-TM” center of the “Halkara standart hyzmatlary” IB. Gulistan Gafurova, the head of this company, noted that due to the successful completion of training courses and internships accredited by the International register of certified auditors (IRCA) (including with the support of the SARD III Project), the first auditors authorized to conduct audits of management systems in accordance with ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 22000:2018 standards have appeared in Turkmenistan. They will be involved in conducting audits of management systems in Turkmenistan, which will significantly save on the cost of certification, due to the fact that there is no need to call international experts and conclude international currency agreements. There is a kind of substitution of import of services.

Gulistan Gafurova, head of the “HIL-TM” center, invites Turkmen companies to take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity and pass international certification according to ISO standards with the involvement of local certified auditors to improve their competitiveness in international markets.