Director of the Antigua and Barbuda Bureau of Standards elected President of SIM.

The Inter-American Metrology System (SIM) resulted from a broad agreement among national metrology organizations from all 34-member nations of the Organization of American States (OAS). Created to promote international, particularly Inter-American, and regional cooperation in metrology, SIM is committed to the implementation of a Global Measurement System within the Americas, in which all users can have confidence. Working towards the establishment of a robust regional measuring system, SIM is essential for making the development of a free trade area in the Americas possible.

In the context of the cooperation established, measures taken by the members will help to achieve:
" The establishment of national and regional measurement systems;
" The establishment of a hierarchy of the national standards in each country and linkage with regional and international standards;
" The establishment of equivalence among national measuring standards and calibration certificates issued by the national metrology laboratories;
" Comparability of results obtained from measurement processes performed in laboratories within the system;
" Training of technical and scientific personnel;
" The collection and distribution of technical and scientific documentations;
" The linkage with the international standards maintained by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM);
" Close cooperation with the international organization for scientific (BIPM) and legal metrology (OIML) and with other international organizations interested in laboratory accreditation (ILAC) and with measurement technology and standards (IMEKO), research and development (universities and R&D organizations), oriented to foster competitiveness, to promote more equitable commercial transactions and to support basic development in health, safety, sustainable industrial development and environment protection.

Organized in five sub-regions (NORAMET, CARIMET, CAMET, ANDIMET AND SURAMET), SIM is comprised of metrology organizations from 34 countries in the Americas and benefits from a Governing Council consisting of a President, one coordinator from each sub-region, a technical committee, a professional development committee, a technical advisor and an integrated representation (JCRB) which provides access for SIM in a world agreement (metre convention) for the comparison of standards at the highest metrology/measurement level.

The SIM General Assembly (GA) is held every year in a different member country and elections for the post of President are held every two years. In this regard, the Government of Antigua and Barbuda, through the Hon. Dr. Errol Cort, Minister of Finance and Economy presented Mrs. Dianne Lalla-Rodrigues as a candidate for President by note to the SIM Executive Secretariat. This year the GA was held on the island of Margarita, Venezuela and Mrs. Lalla-Rodrigues, Director of the Antigua and Barbuda Bureau of Standards was elected President for the term Nov 2004-Nov 2006. Mrs Rodrigues holds a BSc Pure & Applied Physics (Honors) from the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, an MBA from the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill and an MSc in Quality Management from Cranfield University in the UK. She was one of the 2000/2001 Chevening Scholars. In her new post as SIM President Mrs. Rodrigues will be responsible for executing a business plan that was submitted to the SIM Executive Secretariat as part of her presentation for the presidency.