China to help Cambodia build efficient market

China may help Cambodia verify all balances used in thousands of markets in the country to promote fair trade, according to senior officials at China's National Institute of Metrology (NIM).

Meanwhile, the two countries will also intensify cooperation and exchanges in other fields, such as in joint research and personnel training in metrology, according to agreements reached between the NIM and Cambodia's National Measurement Center on Tuesday.

The NIM also donated 13 sets of precision weights that range from 1 milligram to 20 kilograms to Cambodia for scientific research on Tuesday, Gao Wei, chief of international cooperation at the NIM, said.

Duan Yuning, deputy president of the NIM, said China would provide more regular weights, such as those measuring one kilogram, to Cambodia to help the country calibrate its balances.

"In most markets that sell meat and vegetables in Cambodia people are still using mechanical scales, but they can be adjusted for cheating, so we need to check their accuracy," Cham Prasidh, senior minister of industry and handicraft of Cambodia, said.

"We need to verify all balances in Cambodia, and every market should have a set of weight to prevent cheating," he said. "This is a primary area of our cooperation with the NIM."

Fang Xiang, president of the NIM, said metrological cooperation between China and Cambodia could be extended to many other areas, such as in inspection and quarantine of agricultural products and certification of organic food.