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SEED TESTING INTERNATIONAL APRIL 2026
• ACCREDITATION 
Journey to Re-Accreditation for the Kyrgyz Central 
Seed Expertise Laboratory
Gulsyinat Noruzbaeva1 and Kulmira Kaldaralieva2
1Head of Laboratory
2Quality Manager
THE CENTRAL SEED EXPERTISE 
LABORATORY[YM1.1] (KG01) OF 
THE DEPARTMENT OF EXPERTISE 
OF AGRICULTURAL CROPS AND 
HORTICULTURE, under the Ministry of 
Water, Resources, Agriculture and Processing 
Industry of the Kyrgyz Republic, is currently the 
only ISTA accredited laboratory in the Central 
Asian countries of the former Soviet Union. The 
main tasks of the laboratory are to test seeds of 
agricultural crops according to the International 
Rules for Seed Testing (ISTA Rules) and to issue 
Orange International Certificates for the export 
of seeds and National Certificates of Conformity.
The laboratory’s history dates back to 1997. That 
year, with the support of the Agricultural Support 
Services Project, funded by the World Bank, as 
well as projects of the Technical Assistance to the 
Commonwealth of Independent States (TACIS) 
and the Swedish International Development 
Cooperation Agency (SIDA), work was carried out 
to establish and prepare the Central Laboratory 
of the Republican State Seed Inspectorate 
(RSSI) for its accreditation to ISTA. Zakhifa 
Omorbekova, Head of RSSI, made the greatest 
contribution to the Central Laboratory’s ISTA 
accreditation.
In 2001, a building was purchased for the office 
of RSSI of the Kyrgyz Republic with assistance 
from the World Bank’s Agricultural Support 
Services Project, Seed Production component, 
Seed Certification subcomponent. The premises 
Training course on the ISTA Rules at the Swedish Board of Agriculture laboratory SEDL0200 in May 2008: laboratory specialists, together with Ulf 
Kshelström (Head) and staff of the Swedish laboratory
Laboratory specialists and staff of the laboratory 
in Sweden, May 2008
were renovated, and equipment was purchased 
for the laboratory with assistance from the TACIS 

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